An arahant. He lived in the
Pūjā-parivena in the
Mahāvihāra and was entrusted by
Dutthagāmanī with the task of finding relics for the Mahā
Thūpa. In the time of the Buddha he had been the brahmin
Nanduttara, and had entertained the Buddha on the occasion on which, at Payāgatittha, Bhaddaji
Thera had raised, from the bed of the Ganges, the palace he had occupied as
Mahāpanāda. Filled with marvel, Nanduttara wished that he might have the power
of procuring relics possessed by others. Sonuttara visited the
Mañjerika-nāga-bhavana and asked the Nāga king, Mahākāla, to give him the relics
which he had there and which had once been enshrined in Rāmagāma.
But Mahākāla, unwilling to part with them, told his nephew,
Vāsuladatta, to hide them. Sonuttara knew this, and when Mahākāla told him he
might take the relics if he could find them, Sonuttara, by his magic
power, took the relic casket from Vāsuladatta, unknown to him, and
brought it to
Anurādhapura, where the relics were deposited in the Mahā Thūpa. Mhv.xxxi.4-74."

A ford on the Ganges, on the direct route
from Verañjā to Benares, the road passing through Soreyya, Sankassa
and
Kannakujja, and crossing the Ganges at Payāga (Vin.iii.11).

It was one of the river ghats where people did ceremonial bathing
to wash away their sins (M.i.39; J.vi.198). It was here that the
palace occupied by
Mahāpanāda was submerged. The Buddha passed it when visiting the brahmin
Nanduttara, and Bhaddaji, who was with him, raised the palace once more above
the water. Bhaddaji had once been Mahāpanāda (Mhv.xxxi.6ff).

Buddhaghosa says (MA.i.145; DA.iii.856) the bathing place was on
the spot where the palace stairs had stood. Reference is made to
Payāga even in the time of
Padumuttara Buddha (AA.i.126).

It is identified with the modern Allahabad, at the confluence of
the Gangā and the Yamunā."

"Allahabad (Hindi: इलाहाबाद; Urdu: الاهاباد Ilāhābād)
is a city in the Indian state of Uttar
Pradesh.

The name was given to the city by the
Mughal Emperor Akbar (Persian: جلال الدین محمد اکبر) in 1583. The "Allah" in the
name does not come from Allah as God's name in Islam but from the Din-Ilahi
(Arabic: دين إلهي ), which was the religion founded by Akbar. In
Indian alphabets it is spelt "Ilāhābād": "ilāh" is
Arabic for "a god" (but in this context from Din-Ilahi), and "-ābād" is
Persian for "place of".

The modern city is on the site of the ancient holy city of
Prayāga (Sanskrit for "place of sacrifice" and is the spot where Brahma offered
his first sacrifice after creating the world). It is one of four
sites of the Kumbha Mela (Hindi, m., कुंभ मेला), the others being Haridwar, Ujjain
and Nasik. It has a position of importance in the Hindu religion and
mythology since it is situated at the confluence of the rivers Ganga
and Yamuna (यमुना), and Hindu belief says that the invisible
Sarasvati River joins here also. This belief may have arisen because the real
ancient
Sarasvati River dried up because its main headwater was diverted eastwards into
the upper Yamuna and thus its water reached Allahabad along with the
Yamuna.

Because solar events in Allahabad occur exactly 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead
of Greenwich, the city is the reference point for
Indian Standard Time, maintained by the city's observatory.

The city has
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology one of the renowned
technical institutes in India.

History

Allahabad is a historian's paradise. History lies embedded
everywhere, in its fields, forests and settlements. Forty-eight
kilometres, towards the southwest, on the placid banks of the Jamuna,
the ruins of Kaushambi, capital of the Vatsa kingdom and a thriving
center of Buddhism, bear silent testimony to a forgotten and bygone
era. On the eastern side, across the river Ganga and connected to
the city by the Shastri Bridge is Jhusi, identified with the ancient
city of Pratisthanpur, capital of the Chandra dynasty. About 58
kilometres northwest is the medieval site of Kara with its
impressive wreckage of Jayachand's fort. Sringverpur, another
ancient site discovered relatively recently, has become a major
attraction for tourists and antiquarians alike.

Allahabad is an extremely important and integral part of the
Ganga Yamuna Doab, and its history is inherently tied with that of
the Doab region, right from the inception of the town.

The city was known earlier as Prayāga - a name that is still
commonly used.

When the Aryans first settled in what they termed the Aryavarta,
or
Madhydesha, Prayag or Kaushambi was an important part of their territory. The Vatsa
(a branch of the early
Indo-Aryans) were rulers of Hastinapur, and they established the town of Kaushambi
near present day Allahabad. They shifted their capital to Kaushambi
when Hastinapur was destroyed by floods.

In the times of the Ramayana, Allahabad was made up of a few rishis'
huts at the confluence of the rivers, and much of what is now
central/ southern Uttar
Pradesh was continuous jungle. Lord Rama, the main protagonist in the Ramayana,
spent some time here, at the Ashram of
Sage Bharadwaj, before proceeding to nearby Chitrakoot.

The Doaba region, including Allahabad was controlled by several
empires and dynasties in the ages to come. It became a part of the
Mauryan and Gupta empires of the east and the Kushan empire of the
west before becoming part of the local Kannauj empire which became
very powerful.

In the beginning of the Muslim rule, Allahabad was a part of the
Delhi Sultanate. Then the Mughals took over from the slave rulers of
Delhi and under them Allahabad rose to prominence once again.

Acknowledging the strategic position of Allahabad in the Doaba or
the "Hindostan" region at the confluence of its defining rivers
which had immense navigational potentials, Akbar built a magnificent
fort on the banks of the holy Sangam and re-christened the town as
Illahabad in 1575. The Akbar fort has an Ashokan pillar and some
temples, and is largely a military barracks. On the southwestern
extremity of Allahabad lies Khusrobagh that antedates the fort and
has three mausoleums, including that of Jehangir's first wife – Shah
Begum. Before colonial rule was imposed over Allahabad, the city was
rocked by Maratha incursions. But the Marathas also left behind two
beautiful eighteenth century temples with intricate architecture.

In 1765, the combined forces of the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal
emperor Shah Alam lost the war of Buxar to the British. Although,
the British did not take over their states, they established a
garrison at the Allahabad fort. Governor General Warren Hastings
later took Allahabad from Shah Alam and gave it to Awadh alleging
that he had placed himself in the power of the Marathas.

In 1801 the Nawab (Urdu: نواب ) of Awadh ceded the city to the
British East India Company. Gradually the other parts of Doaba and adjoining
region in its west (including Delhi and Ajmer-Mewara regions) were
won by the British. When these north western areas were made into a
new Presidency called the "North Western Provinces of Agra", its
capital was Agra. Allahabad remained an important part of this state.

In 1834, Allahabad became the seat of the Government of the Agra
Province and a High Court was established. But a year later both
were relocated to Agra.

In 1857, Allahabad was active in the
Indian Mutiny. After the mutiny, the British truncated the Delhi region of the
state, merging it with Punjab and transferred the capital of North
west Provinces to Allahabad, which remained so for the next 20 years.

In 1877 the two provinces of Agra (NWPA) and Awadh were merged to
form a new state which was called the
United Provinces. Allahabad was the capital of this new state till the 1920s.

An ancient seat of learning

It was a well-known centre of education (dating from the time of
the Buddha), and in the first few decades of the 20th century. In
the 19th century, the
Allahabad University earned the epithet of 'Oxford of the East'. It is also a
major literary centre for Hindi. It holds the world record for the
world's first letter delivered by airmail (from Allahabad to
Naini, just a few km. across the river Yamuna) (1911).

Allahabad's role in the freedom struggle

During the 1857 rebellion there was an insignificant presence of
European troops in Allahabad. Taking advantage of this, the rebels
brought Allahabad under their control. It was around this time that
Maulvi Liaquat Ali Khan unfurled the banner of revolt. Long after
the mutiny had been quelled, the establishment of the High Court,
the Police Headquarters and the Public Service Commission,
transformed the city into an administrative center, a status that it
enjoys even today.

The fourth session of the
Indian National Congress was held in the city in 1888. At the turn of the
century Allahabad also became a nodal point for the revolutionaries.
The Karmyogi office of Sundar Lal in Chowk sparked patriotism in the
hearts of many young men. Nityanand Chatterji became a household
name when he hurled the first bomb at the European club. During the
movement for independence, Allahabad was at the forefront of all
political activities. Alfred Park in Allahabad was the site where,
in 1931, the revolutionary
Chandrashekhar Azad killed himself when surrounded by the
British Police.
Anand Bhavan, and an adjacent Nehru family home, Swaraj Bhavan, were the center
of the political activities of the Indian National Congress. In the
climactic years of the freedom struggle, thousands of satyagrahis,
led, inter alia, by
Purshottam Das Tandon,
Bishambhar Nath Pande and
Narayan Dutt Tewari, went to jail. And when freedom finally came, the first
Prime Minister of free India, Jawahar Lal Nehru, and Union ministers
like Mangla Prasad, Muzaffar Hasan, K. N. Katju, Lal Bahadur Shastri,
all were from Allahabad.

Allahabad was the birthplace of
Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi: जवाहरलाल नहरू),
and the Nehru family estate, called the
Anand Bhavan, is now a museum. It was also the birthplace of his daughter
Indira Gandhi (Hindi: इन्दिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गान्धी),
and the home of
Lal Bahadur Shastri (Hindi लालबहादुर शास्त्री), both later
Prime Ministers of India. In addition
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (विश्वनाथ प्रताप सिंह) and
Chandra Shekhar were also associated with Allahabad. Thus Allahabad has the
distinction of being the home of several
Prime Ministers in India's post-independence history.

The first seeds of the idea of Pakistan were also sown in
Allahabad. On 29
December 1930,
Allama Muhammad Iqbal's (Urdu: محمد اقبال,
Hindi: मुहम्मद इकबाल) presidential address to the All-India
Muslim League (Urdu: مسلم لیگ) proposed a separate Muslim state for the Muslim
majority regions of India.

Geography

It is located in the southern part of the state, at
25°28′N 81°50′E, and
stands at the confluence of the Ganga (Ganges), and Yamuna rivers.
To its west and south is the
Bundelkhand region, and to its east is the Baghelkhand region.

Allahabad stands at a strategic point both geographically and
culturally. An important part of the Ganga-Yamuna Doaba region, it
is the last point of the Yamuna river and is the last frontier of
the west Indian culture.

The land between the Doaba is just like the rest of Doaba ---
fertile but not too moist, which is especially suitable for the
production of wheat. The southern and eastern part of the district
are somewhat similar to those of adjoining Budelkhand and
Baghelkhand regions, viz. dry and rocky.

IST is measured by the local time of the observatory in Allahabad.

Demography

Allahabad City has a population of 1,050,000 as per the
2001 census with about 580,000 males and 470,000 females. It lists
as the 32nd most populous city in India. Allahabad has an area of
about 65 kmī and is 98 m above sea level. Languages spoken in and
around Allahabad include Hindi,
English, Urdu, and some
Bengali, and Punjabi. There is also a small population of Kashmiris in the city.

The dialect of Hindi spoken in Allahabad is Awadhi, although
khari boli is most commonly used in the city area. All major religions
are practised in Allahabad.

Climate

Allahabad experiences all four seasons. The summer season
is from April to June with the maximum temperatures ranging between
40 to 45 °C. Monsoon begins in early July and lasts till September.
The winter season falls in the months of December, January and
February. Temperatures in the cold weather could drop to freezing
with maximum at almost 12 to 14 °C. Allahabad also witnesses severe
fog in January resulting in massive traffic and travel delays. It
does not snow in Allahabad.

Lowest temperature recorded −2 °C; highest, 48 °C.

Kumbha (Hindi, m., कुंभ मेला) and Magh Mela (Hindi: माघ मेला)

The word 'Mela' is fair in Hindi. Except in the years of the Kumbha
Mela and the Ardha Kumbha Mela (Ardha is half in Hindi, hence the
Ardha Kumbha Mela is held every 6th year), the Magh Mela takes place every year
in the month of Magh (Jan - Feb) of the
Hindu calendar. Kumbh Mela (the Urn Festival) occurs four times every twelve
years and rotates between four locations: Prayag (Allahabad),
Haridwar,
Ujjain and
Nashik.

In Allahabad, these religious fairs take place at the Sangam (confluence)
of the Yamuna and the Ganges
River which is holy in Hinduism. In the Kumbha Mela of 2001, which was called
the Maha (great) Kumbha Mela because of an alignment of the Sun, Moon,
and Jupiter that occurred only every 144 years, almost 75 million
people visited the banks of the river to take part in the festivals.
During the Melas, an entire township is built on the river's banks,
with functioning hospitals, fire stations, police stations,
restaurants and other facilities.

Literary Past

Perhaps Allahabad is most famous for the literary
geniuses it has produced. Most of the famous writers in Hindi
literature had a connection with the city. Notable amongst them were
Mahadevi Varma (महादेवी वर्मा),
Sumitranandan Pant (सुमित्रानन्‍दन पंत),
Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' (सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी 'निराला'),
Upendra Nath 'Ashk' and
Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Another noteworthy poet was Raghupati Sahay who was more
famous by the name of Firaq Gorakhpuri. Firaq was an outstanding
literary critic and one of major Urdu poets of the last century.
Both Firaq and Bachchan were professors of English at
Allahabad University. Firaq Gorakhpuri and Mahadevi Varma were awarded the
Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in the
Republic of India in 1969 an 1982 respectively.

The famous English author and
Nobel Laureate (1907)
Rudyard Kipling also spent time at Allahabad working for The Pioneer as
an assistant editor and overseas correspondent.

Sports and Recreation

Allahabad is well known for its sporting activities in the fields of Cricket, Badminton, Tennis
and Gymnastics. There are several sports complexes that can be used by both
amateurs and professionals. These include the
Madan Mohan Malaviya Cricket stadium, Mayo Hall Sports
Complex and the
Boys' High School & College Gymnasium. There are several swimming
facilities throughout the city as well.

Allahabad has a prominent place in Indian Gymnastics. It is the
leading team in SAARC and Asian countries.

Mohammed Kaif member of Indian Cricket team hails from this city.

Passenger transportation

Air

Allahabad is served by the Bamrauli
airport (IXD) and is linked to Delhi (Hindi:
दिल्ली, Urdu: دہلی or دلّی,
Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ) and
Kolkata (Bangla: কলকাতা) by
Air Sahara.
Other airports in the vicinity are Varanasi (Hindi: वाराणसी)
(147 km) and
Lucknow (Hindi: लखनऊ; Urdu: لکھنو; Lakʰnau) (210 km).

Road

National Highway 2 runs through the center of the city. Allahabad is located
in between Delhi and Kolkata on this highway. Another highway that links
Allahabad is National Highway 27 that is 93 km long and starts at Allahabad and
ends at Mangawan in
Madhya Pradesh connecting to National Highway 7. There are other highways
that link Allahabad to all parts of the country. Allahabad also has three bus
stations catering to different routes - at Zero Road, Leader Road and Civil
Lines.

Tourist taxis,
auto-rickshaws and tempos are available for local transport. There is also a
local bus service that connects various parts of the city. But the most
covenient method of local transport is the
cycle rickshaw. Rates are not fixed and one needs to bargain.

Train

Served by
Indian Railway. Allahabad is the headquarters of the
North Central Railways Zone, and is well connected by trains with all major
cities, namely, Kolkata, Delhi,
Mumbai,
Chennai,
Hyderabad,
Lucknow and
Jaipur. Allahabad has four railway stations - Prayag Station, City Station (Rambagh),
Daraganj Station and Allahabad Junction (the main station).

Government, Civic Amentites and Important Offices

Allahabad is
governed by a number of bodies, the prime being the Allahabad Nagar
Nigam (Municipal Corporation) and Allahabad development Authority,
which is responsible for the master planning of the city. Other
facilities are provided by various other government utilities. For
example, water supply and sewage system is maintained by Jal Nigam,
a subsidiary of Nagar Nigam. Power supply is by the Uttar Pradesh
Power Corporation Limited. Nagar Nigam also runs a bus service in
the city and suburban areas.

Allahabad is home to a large number of important government
offices. Some of them are the Public Service Commission, Board of
Revenue, Education Directorate, State board of Education, Police
Head Quarters(UP), Income Tax and Excise Tribunal, AG of UP,
numerous railway offices and a number of Defence establishments.
There are as many as five defence establishments in and around the
city. They are

City Cantonment

Chatham Lines Cantonment

Bamrauli and Manauri air fields

Allahabad Fort

Ordnance depot in Naini.

Bamrauli air field is the head quarters of the Central Air
Command of India.

Allahabad is the seat of the Allahabad High Court, the High Court
of the state of Uttar Pradesh (along with a bench at Lucknow). It is
one of the largest courts in the world in terms of the number of
judges.

Entertainment and Markets

Allahabd lacks in terms of entertainment
avenues. However, the city is undergoing rapid transformation with
opening of a number of shopping malls, multiplexes and restaurants.
Still the city has very sedate pace of life compared to other large
cities.

Traditionally, the main market areas of the city are Civil Lines,
Chowk and Katra. However, newer market places have developed in
recent years, Allahpur being the prime example.

The son of a setthi in Bhaddiya. He was
worth eighty crores, and was brought up in luxury like that of the
Bodhisatta in his last birth. When Bhaddaji was grown up, the Buddha
came to Bhaddiya to seek him out, and stayed at the
Jātiyāvana with a large number of monks. Thither Bhaddaji went to hear him
preach. He became an arahant, and, with his father's consent, was
ordained by the Buddha. Seven weeks later he accompanied the Buddha
to Kotigāma, and, while the Buddha was returning thanks to a pious
donor on the way, Bhaddaji retired to the bank of the Ganges outside
the village, where he stood wrapt in jhāna, emerging only when the
Buddha came by, not having heeded the preceding chief theras. He was
blamed for this; but, in order to demonstrate the attainments of
Bhaddaji, the Buddha invited him to his own ferry boat and bade him
work a wonder. Bhaddaji thereupon raised from the river bed, fifteen
leagues into the air, a golden palace twenty leagues high, in which
he had lived as
Mahāpanāda. On this occasion the
Mahāpanāda or
Suruci Jātaka was preached.

The
Mahāvamsa account (xxxi.37ff) says that, before raising Mahāpanada's palace,
Bhaddaji rose into the air to the height of seven palmyra trees,
holding the Dussa
Thūpa from the Brahma world in his hand. He then dived into the Ganges and
returned with the palace. The brahmin
Nanduttara, whose hospitality the Buddha and his monks had accepted, saw this
miracle of Bhaddaji, and himself wished for similar power by which
he might procure relics in the possession of others. He was reborn
as the novice Sonuttara, who obtained the relics for the thūpas of
Ceylon.

In the time of
Padumuttara Buddha, Bhaddaji was a brahmin ascetic who, seeing the Buddha
travelling through the air, offered him honey, lotus stalks, etc.
Soon after he was struck by lightning and reborn in Tusita. In the
time of Vipassī Buddha he was a very rich setthi and fed sixty eight
thousand monks, to each of whom he gave three robes. Later, he
ministered to five hundred Pacceka Buddhas. In a subsequent birth
his son was a Pacceka Buddha, and he looked after him and built a
cetiya over his remains after his death. Thag.vs.163f.;
ThagA.i.285ff.; also J.ii.331ff., where the details vary slightly;
J.iv.325; also MT.560f

Bhaddaji is identified with Sumana of the
Mahānārada Kassapa Jātaka (J.vi.255).

He is probably identical with Bhisadāyaka of the Apadāna
(Ap.ii.420f). Bhaddaji is mentioned among those who handed down the
Abhidhamma to the Third Council (DhSA.32).

Son of Suruci and king of Mithilā. He owned a
palace one hundred storeys high, all of emerald; it was one thousand
bow-shots (twenty five leagues) high and sixteen broad and held six
thousand musicians.

Mahāpanāda was a previous birth of Bhaddaji. See
the Mahāpanāda Jātaka (264) and also Kosalā. See also Sankha (3)."

The highest of the celestial worlds, the abode
of the Brahmas. It consists of twenty heavens:

the nine ordinary Brahma-worlds,

the five Suddhāvāsā,

the four Arūpa worlds (see loka),

the Asaññasatta and

the Vehapphala (e.g., VibhA.521).

All except the four Arūpa worlds are classed
among the Rūpa worlds (the inhabitants of which are corporeal). The
inhabitants of the Brahma worlds are free from sensual desires (but
see the Mātanga Jātaka, (J.497), where Ditthamangalikā is spoken of
as Mahābrahmabhariyā, showing that some, at least, considered that
Mahābrahmas had wives).

The Brahma world is the only world devoid of
women (DhA.i.270); women who develop the jhānas in this world can be
born among the Brahmapārisajjā (see below), but not among the
Mahābrahmas (VibhA.437f). Rebirth in the Brahma world is the result
of great virtue accompanied by meditation (Vsm.415). The Brahmas,
like the other celestials, are not necessarily sotāpanna or on the
way to complete knowledge (sambodhi-parāyanā); their attainments
depend on the degree of their faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and
the Sangha. See, e.g., A.iv.76f.; it is not necessary to be a
follower of the Buddha for one to be born in the Brahma world; the
names of six teachers are given whose followers were born in that
world as a result of listening to their teaching (A.iii.371ff.;
iv.135ff.).

The Jātakas contain numerous accounts of
ascetics who practised meditation, being born after death in the
Brahma world (e.g., J.ii.43, 69, 90; v.98, etc.). Some of the
Brahmas - e.g., Baka - held false views regarding their
world, which, like all other worlds, is subject to change and
destruction (M.i.327). When the rest of the world is destroyed at
the end of a kappa, the Brahma world is saved (Vsm.415; KhpA.121),
and the first beings to be born on earth come from the Ābhassara
Brahma world (Vsm.417). Buddhas and their more eminent disciples
often visit the Brahma worlds and preach to the inhabitants. E.g.,
M.i.326 f.; ThagA.ii.184ff.; Sikhī Buddha and Abhibhū are also said
to have visited the Brahma world (A.i.227f.). The Buddha could visit
it both in his mind made body and his physical body (S.v.282f.).

If a rock as big as the gable of a house were to
be dropped from the lowest Brahma-world it would take four months to
reach the earth travelling one hundred thousand leagues a day.
Brahmas subsist on trance, abounding in joy (sappītikajjhāna), this
being their sole food. SA.i.161; food and drinks are offered to
Mahābrahmā, and he is invited to partake of these, but not of
sacrifices (SA.i.158 f.). Anāgāmins, who die before attaining
arahantship, are reborn in the Suddhāvāsā Brahma-worlds and there
pass away entirely (see, e.g., S.i.35, 60, and Compendium v.10). The
beings born in the lowest Brahma world are called Brahma-pārisajjā;
their life term is one third of an asankheyya kappa; next to them
come the Brahma-purohitā, who live for half an asankheyya kappa; and
beyond these are the Mahā Brahmas who live for a whole asankheyya
kappa (Compendium, v.6; but see VibhA.519f., where Mahā Brahmās are
defined).

The term Brahmakāyikā-devā
seems to be used as a class-name for all the inhabitants of the
Brahma-worlds (A.i.210; v.76f).

The Mahā Niddesa Commentary (p.109) says that
the word includes all the five (?) kinds of Brahmā (sabbe pi pañca
vokāra Brahmāno gahitā).

The Samantapāsādikā (i.131) speaks of a Mahā
Brahmā who was a khināsava, living for sixteen thousand kappas. When
the Buddha, immediately after his birth, looked around and took his
steps northward, it was this Brahmā who seized the babe by his
finger and assured him that none was greater than he.

The names of several Brahmās occur in the
books - e.g.,

Tudu

Nārada

Ghatikāra

Baka

Sanankumāra

Sahampatī

To these should be added the names of seven
Anāgāmīs resident in Avihā and other Brahma worlds

Upaka

Phalagandu

Pukkusāti

Bhaddiya

Khandadeva

Bāhuraggi

Pingiya

(S.i.35, 60; SA.i.72 etc.).

Baka speaks of seventy two Brahmās, living,
apparently, in his world, as his companions (S.i.142).

See also Tissa Brahmā.

These are described as Mahā Brahmās. Mention is
also made of Pacceka Brahmās - e.g., Subrahmā and
Suddhavāsa (S.i.146f).

Tudu is also sometimes described as a Pacceka
Brahmā (e.g., S.i.149). Of the Pacceka Brahmās, Subrahmā and
Suddhavāsa are represented as visiting another Brahmā, who was
infatuated with his own power and glory, and as challenging him to
the performance of miracles, excelling him therein and converting
him to the faith of the Buddha. Tudu is spoken of as exhorting
Kokālika to put his trust in Sāriputta and Moggallāna (Loc. Cit.)

No explanation is given of the term Pacceka
Brahmā. Does it mean Brahmās who dwelt apart, by themselves? Cp.
Pacceka-Buddha.

The Brahmās are represented as visiting the
earth and taking an interest in the affairs of men. Thus, Nārada
descends from the Brahma-world to dispel the heresies of King Angati
(J.vi.242f). When the Buddha hesitates to preach his doctrine,
because of its profundity, it is Sahampati who visits him and begs
him to preach it for the welfare of the world. The explanation given
(e.g., at SA.i.155) is that the Buddha waited for the invitation of
Sahampati that it might lend weight to his teaching. The people were
followers of Brahmā, and Sahampati's acceptance of the Buddha's
leadership would impress them deeply.

Sahampatī is mentioned as visiting the Buddha several times subsequently,
illuminating Jetavana
with the effulgence of his body. It is said that with a single finger he could
illuminate a whole Cakkavāla (SA.i.158).
Sanankumāra was also a follower of the Buddha. The Brahmās appear to have
been in the habit of visiting the deva worlds too, for Sanankumāra is reported
as being present at an assembly of the Tāvatimsa
gods and as speaking there the Buddha's praises and giving an exposition of his
teaching. But, in order to do this, he assumed the form of
Pañcasikha (D.ii.211ff).

The books refer (e.g., at
D.i.18, where Brahmā is

described as vasavattī issaro kattā nimmātā,
etc.) to the view held, at the Buddha's time, of Brahmā as the
creator of the universe and of union with Brahmā as the highest
good, only to be attained by prayers and sacrifices. But the Buddha
himself did not hold this view amid does not speak of any single
Brahmā as the highest being in all creation. See, however, A.v.59f.,
where Mahā Brahmā, is spoken of as the highest denizen of the
Sahassalokadhātu (yāvatā sahassalokadhātu, Mahā-Brahmā tattha aggam
akkhāyati); but he, too, is impermanent (Mahā-Brahmūno pi . . .
atthi eva aññathattam, atthi viparināmo).

There are Mahā Brahmās, mighty and powerful (abhibhū
anabhibhūto aññadatthudaso vasavattī), but they too, all of them,
and their world are subject to the laws of Kamma. E.g., at S.v.410 (Brahmaloko
pi āvuso anicco adhuvo sakkāyapariyāpanno sādhāyasmā Brahmalokā
cittam vutthāpetvā sakkāyanirodhacittam upasamharāhi). See also
A.iv.76f., 104f., where Sunetta, in spite of all his great powers as
Mahā Brahmā, etc., had to confess himself still subject to suffering.

To the Buddha, union with Brahmā seems to
have meant being associated with him in his world, and this can only
be attained by cultivation of those qualities possessed by the
Brahmā. But the highest good lay beyond, in the attainment of
Nibbāna. Thus in the Tevijjā
Sutta; see also M.ii.194f.

The word Brahma is often used in compounds
meaning highest and best - e.g., Brahmacariyā, Brahmassara; for
details see Brahma in the New Pāli Dictionary."

Its inhabitants claimed and obtained a share of the Buddha's
relics, over which they erected a thūpa (D.ii.167; Bu.xxviii.3;
Dvy.380).

This thūpa was later destroyed by floods, and the urn, with the
relics, was washed into the sea. There the Nāgas, led by their king, Mahākāla,
received it and took it to their abode in Mañjerika where a thūpa
was built over them, with a temple attached, and great honour was
paid to them.

When
Dutthagāmani built the Mahā
Thūpa and asked for relics to be enshrined therein, Mahinda sent Sonuttara to
the Nāga world to obtain these relics, the Buddha having ordained
that they should ultimately be enshrined in the Mahā Thūpa. But
Mahākāla was not willing to part with them, and Sonuttara had to use
his iddhi power to obtain them. A few of the relics were later
returned to the Nāgas for their worship. For details see
Mhv.xxxi.18ff."

From Kapila both pilgrims proceeded to Lan-mo, which has been
identified with the Rāmagrāma of the Buddhist chronicles of India.
Fa-Hian [法顯] makes the distance 5 yojanas, or 35 miles, to the east,
and Hwen Thsang [玄奘] gives 200 li, or 33 1/3 miles, in the same
direction. But in spite of their agreement I believe that the
distance is in excess of the truth. Their subsequent march to the
bank of the Anoma river is said to be 3 yojanas or 21 miles by
Fa-Hian, and 100 li or 16 2/3 miles by Hwen Thsang, thus making the
total distance from Kapila to the Anoma river 8 yojanas, or 56 miles,
according to the former, and 300 li, or 50 miles, according to the
latter. But in the Indian Buddhist scriptures, this distance is said
to be only 6 yojanas, or 42 miles, which I believe to be correct, as
the Aumi river of the present day, which is most probably the Anoma
river of the Buddhist books, is just 40 miles distant from Nagar in
an easterly direction. The identification of the Anoma will be
discussed presently.

According to the pilgrims' statements, the position of Rāmagrāma
must be looked for at about two-thirds of the distance between Nagar
and the Anoma river, that is at 4 yojanas, or 28 miles. In this
position I find the village of Deokali with a mound of ruins, which
was used as a station for the trigonometrical survey. In the 'Mahawanso'
it is stated that the stūpa of Rāmagāmo, which stood on the bank of
the Ganges, was destroyed by the action of the current. Mr. Laidlay
has already pointed out that this river could not be the Ganges; but
might be either the Ghagra, or some other large river in the north.
But I am inclined to believe that the Ganges is a simple fabrication
of the Ceylonese chronicler. All the Buddhist scriptures agree in
stating that the relics of Buddha were divided into eight portions,
of which one fell to the lot of the Kosalas of Rāmagrāma, over which
they erected a stūpa. Some years later seven portions of the relics
were collected together by Ajātaśatru, king of Magadha, and
enshrined in a single stūpa at Rājagriha; but the eighth portion
still remained at Rāmagrāma. According to the Ceylonese chronicler,
the stūpa of Ramagrama was washed away by the Ganges, and the relic
casket, having been carried down the river to the ocean, was
discovered by the Nāgas, or water gods, and presented to their king,
who built a stūpa for its reception. During the reign of
Duṭṭhagāmini of Ceylon, 3.C. 161 to 137, the casket was miraculously
obtained from the Nāga king by the holy monk Soṇuttaro, and
enshrined in the Mahāthūpo, or "great stūpa " in the land of Lanka.

Now this story is completely at variance wi»h the statements of the
Chinese pilgrims, both of whom visited Rāmagrāma many centuries
after Duṭṭha-gāmini, when they found the relic stupa intact, but no
river. Fa-Hian, in the beginning of the fifth century, saw a tank
beside the stupa, in which a dragon (Nāga) lived, who continually
watched the tower. In the middle of the seventh century, Hwen Thsang
saw the same stupa and the same tank of clear water inhabited by
dragons (Nāgas), who daily transformed themselves into men and paid
their devotions to the stupa. Both pilgrims mention the attempt of
Asoka to remove these relics to his own capital, which was abandoned
on the expostulation of the Nāaga king. "If by thy oblations," said
the Nāga, "thou canst excel this, thou mayest destroy the tower, and
I shall not prevent thee." Now according to the Ceylonese chronicler,
this is the very same argument that was used by the Nāga king to
dissuade the priest Soṇuttaro from removing the relics to Ceylon. I
infer, therefore, that the original "tank" of Rāmagrāma was adroitly
changed into a river by the Ceylonese author, so that the relics
which were in charge of the Nāgas of the tank, might be conveyed to
the ocean-palace of the Nāga king, from whence they could as readily
be transferred to Ceylon as to any other place. The river was thus a
necessity in the Ceylonese legend, to convey the relics away from
Rāmagrāma to the ocean. But the authority of a legend can have no
weight against the united testimony of the two independent pilgrims,
who many centuries later found the stupa still standing, but saw no
river. I therefore dismiss the Ganges as a fabrication of the
Ceylonese chroniclers, and accept in its stead the Nāga tank of the
Chinese pilgrims. Having thus got rid of the river, I can see no
objection to the identification of Deokali with the Rāmagrāma of
Buddhist history. The town was quite deserted at the time of
Fa-Hian's visit, in the fifth century, who found only a small
religious establishment; this was still kept up in the middle of the
seventh century, but it must have been very near its dissolution, as
there was only a single srāmaṇera, or monk, to conduct the affairs
of the monastery."

The Koliyā owned two chief settlements - one at Rāmagāma and the
other at Devadaha. The Commentaries (DA.i.260f; SNA.i.356f;
A.ii.558; ThagA.i.546; also Ap.i.94) contain accounts of the origin
of the Koliyas. We are told that a king of Benares, named Rāma (the
Mtu.i.353 calls him Kola and explains from this the name of the
Koliyas), suffered from leprosy, and being detested by the women of
the court, he left the kingdom to his eldest son and retired into
the forest. There, living on woodland leaves and fruits, he soon
recovered, and, while wandering about, came across
Piyā, the eldest of the five daughters of Okkāka, she herself being afflicted
with leprosy. Rāma, having cured her, married her, and they begot
thirty-two sons. With the help of the king of Benares, they built a
town in the forest, removing a big kola-tree in doing so. The city
thereupon came to be called Kolanagara, and because the site was
discovered on a tiger-track (vyagghapatha) it was also called
Vyagghapajjā. The descendants of the king were known as Koliyā.

According to the
Kunālā Jātaka (J.v.413), when the Sākyans wished to abuse the Koliyans, they
said that the Koliyans had once "lived like animals in a Kola-tree,"
as their name signified. The territories of the Sākiyans and the
Koliyans were adjacent, separated by the river Rohinī. The khattiyas
of both tribes intermarried, and both claimed relationship with the
Buddha. (It is said that once the Koliyan youths carried away many
Sākiyan maidens while they were bathing, but the Sākiyans, regarding
the Koliyans as relatives, took no action; DA.i.262). A quarrel once
arose between the two tribes regarding the right to the waters of
the Rohinī, which irrigated the land on both sides, and a bloody
feud was averted only by the intervention of the Buddha. In
gratitude, each tribe dedicated some of its young men to the
membership of the Order, and during the Buddha's stay in the
neighbourhood, he lived alternately in
Kapilavatthu and in Koliyanagara. (For details of this quarrel and its
consequences see J.v.412ff; DA.ii.672ff; DhA.iii.254ff).

Attached probably to the Koliyan central authorities, was a
special body of officials, presumably police, who wore a
distinguishing headdress with a drooping crest (Lambacūlakābhatā).
They bore a bad reputation for extortion and violence (S.iv.341).

Besides the places already mentioned, several other townships of
the Koliyans, visited by the Buddha or by his disciples, are
mentioned in literature - e.g.,

Uttara, the residence of the headman Pātaliya (S.iv.340);

Sajjanela, residence of
Suppavāsā (A.ii.62);

Sāpūga, where Ananda once stayed (A.ii.194);

Kakkarapatta, where lived Dīghajānu (A.iv.281); and

Haliddavasana, residence of the ascetics Punna Koliyaputta
and Seniya (M.i.387; see also S.v.115).

A
class of beings classed with Garulas and Supannas and playing a
prominent part in Buddhist folk lore. They are gifted with
miraculous powers and great strength. Generally speaking, they are
confused with snakes, chiefly the hooded Cobra, and their bodies are
described as being those of snakes, though they can assume human
form at will. They are broadly divided into two classes: those that
live on land (thalaja) and those that live on water (jalaja). The
Jalaja-nāgā live in rivers as well as in the sea, while the
Thalaja-nāgā are regarded as living beneath the surface of the earth.
Several Nāga dwellings are mentioned in the books: e.g.,

Mañjerika-bhavana under Sineru,

Daddara-bhavana at the foot of Mount
Daddara in the Himālaya,

the Dhatarattha-nāgā under the river
Yamunā,

the Nābhāsā Nāgā in Lake Nabhasa,

and also the Nāgas of Vesāli, Tacchaka,
and Payāga (D.ii.258).

The Vinaya (ii.109) contains a list of four
royal families of Nāgas (Ahirājakulāni): Virūpakkhā, Erāpathā,
Chabyāputtā and Kanhagotamakā. Two other Nāga tribes are generally
mentioned together: the Kambalas and the Assataras. It is said
(SA.iii.120) that all Nāgas have their young in the Himālaya.

Stories are given - e.g., in the Bhūridatta
Jātaka - of Nāgas, both male and female, mating with humans; but the
offspring of such unions are watery and delicate (J.vi.160). The
Nāgas are easily angered and passionate, their breath is poisonous,
and their glance can be deadly (J.vi.160, 164). They are carnivorous
(J.iii.361), their diet consisting chiefly of frogs (J.vi.169), and
they sleep, when in the world of men, on ant hills (ibid., 170). The
enmity between the Nāgas and the Garulas is proverbial (D.ii.258).
At first the Garulas did not know how to seize the Nāgas, because
the latter swallowed large stones so as to be of great weight, but
they learnt how in the Pandara Jātaka. The Nāgas dance when music is
played, but it is said (J.vi.191) that they never dance if any
Garula is near (through fear) or in the presence of human dancers (through
shame).

The best known of all Nāgas is Mahākāla, king of
Mañjerika-bhavana. He lives for a whole kappa, and is a very pious follower of
the Buddha. The Nāgas of his world had the custodianship of a part of the
Buddha's relics till they were needed for the Māha Thūpa (Mhv.xxxi.27f.), and
when the Bodhi tree was being brought to Ceylon they did it great honour during
the voyage (Mbv. p.. 163f.). Other Nāga kings are also mentioned as ruling with
great power and majesty and being converted to the Buddha's faith - e.g.,
Aravāla, Apalālā, Erapatta, Nandopananda, and Pannaka. (See also Ahicchatta and
Ahināga.) In the Atānātiya Sutta (D.iii.198f.), speaking of dwellers of the
Cātummahārajika world, the Nāgas are mentioned as occupying the Western Quarter,
with Virūpokkha as their king.

The Nāgas had two chief settlements in
Ceylon, in Nāgadīpa (q.v.) and at the mouth of the river Kalyānī. It
was to settle a dispute between two Nāga chiefs of Nāgadīpa,
Mahodara and Cūlodara, that the Buddha paid his second visit to
Ceylon. During that visit he made a promise to another Nāga-king,
Manjakkhika of Kalyānī, to pay him a visit, and the Buddha's third
visit was in fulfilment of that undertaking (Mhv.i.48f.).

The Nāgas form one of the guards set up by
Sakka in Sineru against the Asuras (J.i.204). The Nāgas were
sometimes worshipped by human beings and were offered sacrifices of
milk, rice, fish, meat and strong drink (J.i.497f.). The jewel of
the Nāgas is famous for its beauty and its power of conferring
wishes to its possessor (J.vi.179, 180).

The word Nāga is often used as an epithet of
the Buddha and the Arahants, and in this connection the etymology
given is āgum na karotī ti Nāgo (e.g., MNid.201). The Bodhisatta was
born several times as king of the Nāgas: Atula, Campeyya, Bhūridatta,
Mahādaddara, and Sankhapāla.

In the accounts given of the Nāgas, there is
undoubtedly great confusion between the Nāgas as supernatural beings,
as snakes, and as the name of certain non Aryan tribes, but the
confusion is too difficult to unravel."

"Nāga (नाग)
is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a minor deity taking the form of a
very large snake, found in
Hindu and
Buddhist mythology. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the
word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human
tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary
snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian
Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other
languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī.

Nagas in Hinduism

Stories involving the nāgas are still very
much a part of contemporary cultural traditions in predominantly
Hindu regions of Asia (India, Nepal, and the island of Bali). In
India, nāgas are considered nature spirits and the protectors of
springs, wells and rivers. They bring rain, and thus fertility, but
are also thought to bring disasters such as floods and drought.
According to some traditions nāgas are only malevolent to humans
when they have been mistreated. They are susceptible to mankind's
disrespectful actions in relation to the environment. Since nāgas
have an affinity with water, the entrances to their underground
palaces are often said to be hidden at the bottom of wells, deep
lakes and rivers. They are especially popular in southern India
where some believe that they brought fertility to their venerators.
Some believed that the legends of nāgas may have originated with
some kind of tribal people in the past.

Varuna, the
Vedic god of storms, is viewed as the King of the nāgas. nāgas live in
Pātāla, the seventh of the "nether" dimensions or realms. They are children of Kashyapa
and Kadru. Among
the prominent nāgas of Hinduism are Manasa,
Shesha or
Śeṣa
and Vasuki.

The nāgas also carry the elixir of life
and immortality. One story mentions that when the gods were
rationing out the elixir of immortality, the nāgas grabbed a cup.
The gods were able to retrieve the cup, but in doing so, spilled a
few drops on the ground. The nāgas quickly licked up the drops, but
in doing so, cut their tongues on the grass, and since then their
tongues have been forked.

The name of the Indian city Nagpur (Marathi:
नागपुर) is derived from Nāgapuram, literally, "city of nāgas".

Nāgas in Buddhism

Traditions about nāgas are also very common in all the Buddhist
countries of Asia. In many countries, the nāga concept has been
merged with local traditions of large and intelligent serpents or
dragons. In Tibet, the nāga was equated with the klu (pronounced
lu), spirits that dwell in lakes or underground streams and
guard treasure. In China, the nāga was equated with the lóng
or
Chinese dragon (Traditional Chinese: 龍;
Simplified Chinese: 龙)

The Buddhist nāga generally has the form of a
large cobra-like snake, usually with a single head but sometimes
with many. At least some of the nāgas are capable of using magic
powers to transform themselves into a human semblance. In Buddhist
painting, the nāga is sometimes portrayed as a human being with a
snake or dragon extending over his head.

Nāgas both live on Mount Sumeru, among the
other minor deities, and in various parts of the human-inhabited
earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in rivers or the
ocean; others are earth-dwellers, living in underground caverns.
Some of them sleep on top of anthills. Their food includes frogs.

In Buddhism, the nāgas are the enemies of the Garuḍas, minor deities
resembling gigantic eagles, who eat them. They learned how to keep from being
devoured by the
Garuḍas by eating large stones, which made them too heavy to be carried
off by the
Garuḍas.

The nāgas are the servants of
Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of the
Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard upon
Mount Sumeru, protecting the
devas of Trāyastriṃśa from attack by the Asuras.

Among the notable nāgas of Buddhist tradition
is Mucalinda, protector of the Buddha.

Other Naga traditions

For Malay sailors, nāgas are a type of dragon with many heads; in Thailand
and
Java, the naga is a wealthy underworld
deity. In Laos they
are beaked water serpents.

In a Cambodian legend, the nāga were a
reptilian race of beings who possessed a large empire or kingdom in
the Pacific Ocean region. The Nāga King's daughter married the king
of Ancient Cambodia, and thus gave rise to the Cambodian people.
This is why, still, today, Cambodians say that they are "Born from
the Nāga". The Seven-Headed Nāga serpents depicted as statues on
Cambodian temples, such as Angkor Wat, apparently represent the 7
races within Nāga society, which has a mythological, or symbolic,
association with "the seven colours of the rainbow". Furthermore,
Cambodian Nāga possess numerological symbolism in the number of
their heads. Odd-headed Nāga symbolise the Male Energy, Infinity,
Timelessness, and Immortality. This is because, numerologically, all
odd numbers come from One (1). Even-headed Nāga are said to be "Female,
representing Physicality, Mortality, Temporality, and the Earth."

Nagas in Nagaland

The Naga
people of Nagaland are said to have believed themselves to be descendants of the
mythological "Nāgas", but to have lost this belief due to Christian
missionary activity."

One of the Buddha's most eminent disciples,
chief among those who upheld minute observances of form (dhutavādānam)
(A.i.23). He was born in the brahmin village of
Mahātittha in Magadha, and was the son of the brahmin Kapila, his mother being
Sumanādevī; he himself was called Pippali. At Ap.ii.583, vs. 56; but there his
father is called Kosiyagotta.

When he grew up he refused to marry in spite
of the wishes of his parents; but in the end, to escape from their
importunities, he agreed to marry if a wife could be found
resembling a statue, which he had made.
Bhaddā Kāpilānī was found at Sāgala to fulfil these conditions, and though the
young people wrote to each other suggesting that somebody else
should be found as a match for each, their letters were intercepted
and they were married. By mutual consent, however, the marriage was
not consummated, the two spending the night separated by a chain of
flowers. Pippali had immense wealth; he used twelve measures of
perfumed powder daily, each measure a Magadhanāli, for his person
alone. He had sixty lakes with water works attached, and his workmen
occupied fourteen villages, each as large as
Anurādhapura.

One day he went to a field, which was being
ploughed and saw the birds eating the worms turned up by the plough.
On being told that the sin therein was his, he decided to renounce
all his possessions.

At the same time, Bhaddā had been watching
the crows eating the little insects, which ran about among the
seamsum seeds that had been put out to dry, and when her attendant
women told her that hers would be the sin for their loss of life,
she also determined to renounce the world.

The husband and wife, finding that they were
of one accord, took yellow raiments from their wardrobe, cut off
each other's hair, took bowls in their hands, and passed out through
their weeping servants, to all of whom they granted their freedom,
and departed together, Pippali walking in front. But soon they
agreed that it was not seemly they should walk thus together, as
each must prove a hindrance to the other. And so, at the cross roads,
he took the right and she the left and the earth trembled to see
such virtue.

The Buddha, sitting in the
Gandhakuti in Veluvana, knew what the earthquake signified, and having walked
three gāvutas (this journey of the Buddha is often referred to -
e.g., MA.i.347, 357), sat down at the foot of the
Bahuputtaka Nigrodha, between Rājagaha and Nālandā, resplendent in all the glory
of a Buddha. Pippali (henceforth called Mahā Kassapa, no explanation
is to be found anywhere as to why he is called Kassapa; it was
probably his gotta name, but see Ap.ii.583, vs.56) saw the Buddha,
and recognising him at once as his teacher, prostrated himself
before him. The Buddha told him to be seated, and, in three homilies,
gave him his ordination.

The three homilies are given at S.ii.220, "Thus
Kassapa must thou train thyself:

(1) 'There shall be a lively sense of
fear and regard (hirotappa) towards all monks, seniors, novices,
and those of middle status.'

(2) 'Whatever doctrine I shall hear
bearing upon what is good, to all that I will hearken with
attentive ear, digesting it, pondering it, gathering it all up
with my will.'

(3) 'Happy mindfulness with respect to
the body shall not be neglected by me.'"

Together they returned to Rājagaha, Kassapa,
who bore on his body seven of the thirty two marks of a Great Being,
following the Buddha. On the way, the Buddha desired to sit at the
foot of a tree by the roadside, and Kassapa folded for him his outer
robe (pilotikasanghāti) as a seat. The Buddha sat on it and, feeling
it with his hand, praised its softness. Kassapa asked him to accept
it. "And what would you wear?" inquired the Buddha. Kassapa then
begged that he might be given the rag robe worn by the Buddha. "It
is faded with use," said the Buddha, but Kassapa said he would prize
it above the whole world and the robes were exchanged. (The robe
which Kassapa exchanged with the Buddha was Punnā's cloak. See Punnā 6).

This incident Kassapa always recalled with
pride, e.g. S.ii.221. It is said that the Buddha paid him this great
honour because he knew that Kassapa would hold a recital after his
death, and thus help in the perpetuation of his religion, SA.ii.130.
The earth quaked again in recognition of Kassapa's virtues, for no
ordinary being would have been fit to wear the Buddha's cast off
robe. Kassapa, conscious of the great honour, took upon himself the
thirteen austere vows (dhutagunā) and, after eight days, became an
arahant.

In the past Kassapa and Bhaddā had been
husband and wife and companions in good works in many births. In the
time of
Padumuttara Buddha Kassapa was a very rich householder named Vedeha and married
to Bhaddā, and very devoted to the Buddha. One day he heard the
Buddha's third disciple in rank (Nisabha) being awarded the place of
pre eminence among those who observed austere practices, and
registered a wish for a similar honour for himself in the future. He
learnt from the Buddha of the qualities in which Nisabha excelled
the Buddha himself, and determined to obtain them. With this end in
view, during birth after birth, he expended all his energies in
goods deeds. Ninety one kappas ago; in the time of Vipassī Buddha,
he was the brahmin Ekasātaka and Bhaddā was his wife. In the
interval between
Konāgamana and Kassapa Buddhas he was a setthiputta. He married Bhaddā, but
because of an evil deed she had done in the past (see Bhaddā
Kāpilānī), she became unattractive to him and he left her, taking
her as wife again when she became attractive. Having seen from what
had happened to his wife how great was the power of the Buddhas, the
setthiputta wrapped Kassapa Buddha's golden cetiya with costly robes
and decked it with golden lotuses, each the size of a cartwheel.

The Therī Apadāna (Ap.ii.582. vs. 47-51)
gives an account of two more of his lives, one as Sumitta and the
other as Koliyaputta, in both of which he and his wife ministered to
Pacceka Buddhas.

In the next birth he was Nanda, king of
Benares, and, because he had given robes in past lives, he had
thirty two kapparukkhas, which provided him and all the people of
his kingdom with garments. At the suggestion of his queen, he made
preparations to feed holy men, and five hundred Pacceka Buddhas,
sons of Padumā, came to accept his gift. In that life, too, Nanda
and his queen renounced the world and became ascetics, and having
developed the jhānas, were reborn in the Brahma world.

This account of Kassapa's last life and his
previous life is compiled from AA.i.92ff.; SA.ii.135ff.;
ThagA.ii.134ff.; Ap.ii.578ff. Ap.i.33ff. gives other particulars -
that he made offerings at Padumuttara's funeral pyre and that he was
once a king named Ubbiddha in the city of Rammaka; see also
ApA.i.209f.

Kassapa was not present at the death of the Buddha; as he was journeying from Pāvā to
Kusināra
he met an ājīvaka carrying in his hand a mandārava flower picked up by him from
among those which had rained from heaven in honour of the Buddha, and it was he
who told Kassapa the news. It was then the seventh day after the Buddha's death,
and the Mallas had been trying in vain to set fire to his pyre. The arahant
theras, who were present, declared that it could not be kindled until Mahā
Kassapa and his five hundred companions had saluted the Buddha's feet. Mahā
Kassapa then arrived and walked three times round the pyre with bared shoulder,
and it is said the Buddha's feet became visible from out of the pyre in order
that he might worship them. He was followed by his five hundred colleagues, and
when they had all worshipped the feet disappeared and the pyre kindled of itself
(D.ii.163f).

It is said (Mhv.xxxi.20f.; see also Vsm.430)
that the relics of the Buddha which fell to Ajātasattu's share were
taken to Rājagaha by Kassapa, in view of that which would happen in
the future. At Pāvā (on the announcement of the Buddha's death),
Kassapa had heard the words of Subhadda, who, in his old age, had
joined the Order, that they were "well rid of the great samana and
could now do as they liked." This remark it was which had suggested
to Kassapa's mind the desirability of holding a Recital of the
Buddha's teachings. He announced his intention to the assembled
monks, and, as the senior among them and as having been considered
by the Buddha himself to be fit for such a task, he was asked to
make all necessary arrangements (e.g., DA.i.3). In accordance with
his wishes, all the monks, other than the arahants chosen for the
Recital, left Rājagaha during the rainy season. The five hundred who
were selected met in Council under the presidency of Kassapa and
recited the Dhamma and the Vinaya (DA.i.3f.; 5ff.; Sp.i.4.ff.;
Mhv.iii.3ff). This recital is called the Therasangitī or Theravāda.

The books contain numerous references to Mahā Kassapa - he is classed with
Moggallāna,
Kappina, and Anuruddha
for his great iddhi-powers. E.g., S.i.114; but his range of knowledge was
limited; there were certain things which even Kassapa did not know (DhA.i.258).

The Buddha regarded him as equal to himself
in exhorting the monks to lead the active and zealous lives
(S.ii.205), and constantly held him up as an example to others in
his great contentment (S.ii.194f) and his ability to win over
families by his preaching. The Buddha compares him to the moon (candopama),
unobtrusive; his heart was free from bondage, and he always taught
others out of a feeling of compassion. S.ii.197ff. Kassapa's freedom
from any kind of attachment was, as the Buddha pointed out to the
monks, due to the earnest wish he had made for that attainment in
the past, "He has no attachment to requisites or households or
monasteries or cells; but is like a royal swan which goes down into
a lake and swims there, while the water does not adhere to his body"
(DhA.ii.169f.).

The Buddha also thought him equal to himself
in his power of attaining the jhānas and abiding therein
(S.ii.210ff).

Kassapa was willing to help monks along their way, and several instances are
given of his exhortations to them (E.g., Thag.vss.1051-57, 1072-81, and his long
sermon at A.v.161ff ); but he was evidently sensitive to criticism, and would
not address them unless he felt them to be tractable and deferential to
instruction. E.g., S.ii.203ff.; and at 219, when
Thullanandā finds fault with him for blaming Ananda. See below. Kassapa had good
reason for not wishing to address recalcitrant monks. The
Kutidūsaka Jātaka relates how one of his disciples,
Ulunka Saddaka, angered by some admonition from Kassapa, burnt the latter's
grass hut while he was away on his alms round (J.iii.71f.).

He was very reluctant to preach to the nuns,
but on one occasion he allowed himself to be persuaded by Ananda,
and accompanied by him he visited the nunnery and preached to the
nuns. He was probably not popular among them, for, at the end of his
discourse,
Thullatissā openly reviled him for what she called his impertinence in having
dared to preach in the presence of Ananda, "as if the needle pedlar
were to sell a needle to the needle maker." (S.ii.215f) Kassapa
loved Ananda dearly, and was delighted when Ananda attained
arahantship in time to attend the First Recital, and when Ananda
appeared before the arahants, it was Kassapa who led the applause
(DA.i.10f). But Kassapa was very jealous of the good name of the
Order, and we find him (S.ii.218f) blaming Ananda for admitting into
the Order new members incapable of observing its discipline and of
going about with them in large numbers, exposing the Order to the
criticism of the public. "A corn trampler art thou, Ananda," he says,
"a despoiler of families, thy following is breaking up, thy
youngsters are melting away," and ends up with "The boy, methinks,
does not know his own measure." Ananda, annoyed at being called "boy,"
protests "Surely my head is growing grey hairs, your reverence."
This incident, says the Commentary took place after the Buddha's
death, when Ananda, as a new arahant and with all the honour of his
intimacy with the Buddha, whose bowl and robe he now possessed, had
become a notable personage. SA.ii.133; Ananda regarded Kassapa in
some sort of way as a teacher, and held him in great respect, not
daring to mention even his name, lest it should imply disrespect (see
Vin.i.92f.).

Thullanandā heard Kassapa censuring Ananda
and raised her voice in protest, "What now? Does Kassapa, once a
heretic, deem that he can chide the learned sage Ananda?" Kassapa
was hurt by her words, and complained to Ananda that such things
should be said of him who had been singled out by the Buddha for
special honour.

Kassapa viewed with concern the growing
laxity among members of the Order with regard to the observance of
rules, even in the very lifetime of the Buddha, and the falling off
in the number of those attaining arahantship, and we find him
consulting the Buddha as to what should be done. S.ii.224f. At the
First Council, when Ananda stated that the Buddha had given leave
for the monks to do away with the minor rules of the Order, Kassapa
was opposed to any such step, lest it should lead to slackness among
the monks and contempt from the laity (Vin.ii.287f.).

Kassapa himself did his utmost to lead an
exemplary life, dwelling in the forest, subsisting solely on alms,
wearing rag robes, always content with little, holding himself aloof
from society, ever strenuous and energetic. See also the
Mahāgosinga Sutta (M.i.214), where Kassapa declares his belief in the need for
these observances; that his example was profitable to others is
proved by the case of
Somamitta who, finding his own teacher Vimala given up to laziness, sought
Kassapa and attained arahantship under his guidance.

When asked why he led such a life, he replied
that it was not only for his own happiness but also out of
compassion for those who came after him, that they might attain to
the same end. Even when he was old and the Buddha himself had asked
him to give up his coarse rag robe and to dwell near him, he begged
to be excused. S.ii.202f; but See Jotidāsa, who is said to have
built a vihāra for Kassapa, and entertained him.

Once, when Kassapa lay grievously ill at
Pipphaliguhā, the Buddha visited him and reminded him of the seven bojjhangas
which he had practised (S.v.78).

The knowledge that he had profited by the
Master's teaching, we are told (SA.iii.128), calmed his blood and
purified his system, and the sickness fell away from him "like a
drop of water from a lotus leaf." He disdained being waited upon by
anybody, even by a goddess such as Lājā , lest he should set a bad
example (DhA.iii.6ff).

Owing to his great saintliness, even the gods
vied with each other to give alms to Kassapa. Once when he had risen
from a trance lasting seven days, five hundred nymphs, wives of Sakka,
appeared before him; but, snapping his fingers, he asked them to
depart, saying that he bestowed his favours only on the poor.

The story of Kālavilangika is an example of Kassapa's compassion for the poor.
Once, after a seven days' trance, he went to the house of Kālavilanga and
received alms from his wife, which he gave to the Buddha for their greater
benefit. The Buddha took a portion of this and gave the rest to five hundred
monks. Kālavilangika, received only a mouthful of the food left. The Buddha said
that as a result he would be a setthi within seven days. Kālavilangika told this
to his wife. It happened that a few days later the king saw a man impaled alive
in the place of execution; the man begged him for some food, which he agreed to
send. At night, when eating, the king remembered his promise, but could find no
one bold enough to go to the cemetery. On the offer of one thousand pieces,
Kālavilangika's wife agreed to go in the guise of a man. On the way she was
stopped by the yakkha
Dīghataphala, who, however, later released her and gave her treasure, as did
also the yakkha's father in law, the deva Sumana. The man ate the food and, when
wiping his mouth, recognised her as a woman and caught hold of her hair. But she
cut off her hair, and proved to the satisfaction of the king that her mission
had been accomplished. She then recovered the treasure given her by the yakkha
and Sumana; when the king discovered her wealth, she and her husband were raised
to the rank of setthi (MA.ii.812ff.).

When Sakka
heard of this, he disguised himself as a weaver worn with age, and
accompanied by Sujātā, transformed into an old woman, appeared in a
weaver's hut along the lane where Kassapa was begging. The ruse
succeeded and Kassapa accepted their alms; but, later, be discovered
the truth and chided Sakka. Sakka begged forgiveness, and, on being
assured that in spite of his deception the almsgiving would bring
him merit, he flew into the air shouting, "Aho dānam, mahā danam,
Kassapassa patitthitam." The Buddha heard this and sympathised with
Sakka in his great joy (DhA.i.423ff.; cp. Ud.iii.7).

But on one occasion so great was the
importunity with which the monks of Alavi had wearied the people,
that even Mahā Kassapa failed to get alms from them (J.ii.282). The
Visuddhi Magga (403) relates a story of how once, when Kassapa was
begging for alms in Rājagaha, in the company of the Buddha, on a
festival day, five hundred maidens were going to the festival
carrying cakes, "round like the moon." They saw the Buddha but
passed him by, and gave their cakes to Kassapa. The Elder made all
the cakes fill just his single bowl and offered it to the Buddha (This
is probably the incident referred to at Vsm.68).

Sāriputta seems to have held Kassapa in great esteem, and the Kassapa
Samyutta contains two discussions between them: one on the necessity for zeal
and ardour in the attainment of Nibbāna (S.ii.195f), and the other on the
existence of a Tathāgata after death (S.ii.222f). This regard was mutual, for
when Kassapa saw the great honour paid to Sāriputta by the devas he rejoiced
greatly and broke forth into song (Thag.vs.1082 5).

Kassapa lived to be very old, and, when he died,
had not lain on a bed for one hundred and twenty years. DA.ii.413;
AA.ii.596; he was one hundred and twenty at the time of the First
Recital (SA.ii.130). According, to northern sources, Kassapa did not
die; he dwells in the Kukkutagiri Mountains, wrapt in samādhi,
awaiting the arrival of
Metteyya Buddha (Beal, op. cit., ii.142f.). A tooth of Mahā Kassapa was
enshrined in the
Bhīmatittha vihāra in Ceylon (Cv.lxxxv.81).

He is several times referred to in the
Jātakas. Thus, he was

the father in the Gagga
Jātaka (ii.17),

the brahmin in the
Kurudhamma (ii.381),

one of the devaputtas in the
Kakkāru (iii.90),

Mendissara in the
Indriya (iii.469), and in the
Sarabhanga (v.151),

the father in the
Padakusalamānava (iii.514),

the teacher in the
Tittira (iii.545),

Mātali in the
Bīlārakosiya (iv.69),

one of the seven brothers in the Bhissa
(iv.314),

the bear in the
Pañcuposatha (iv.332),

the chaplain in the
Hatthipāla (iv.491),

Vidhura in the
Sambhava (v.67),

the senior ascetic in the
Sankhapāla (v.177),

Kulavaddhana setthi in the
Cullasutasoma (v.192),

Suriya in the
Sudhābhojana (v.412),

the tree sprite in the
Mahāsutasoma (v.511),

the father in the Sāma (vi.95), and Sūra Vāmagotta in the
Khandahāla (vi.157).

Mahā Kassapa was so called to distinguish him
from other Kassapas (BuA.42; chiefly Kumāra Kassapa, VibhA.60), and
also because he was possessed of great virtues (mahanti hi
sīlakkhanda hi Samannāgatattā)."

It is five hundred leagues in extent and is the residence of Mahākāla, the
Nāga king (J.i.72; J.vi.264; BuA.239).

When the urn containing the Buddha’s relics, deposited in Rāmagāma, was
washed away, it was taken to the Mañjerika Nāgabhavana, and remained there till
taken by Sonuttara to be enshrined in the Mahā
Thūpa.

A Nāga
king who dwelt in the Mañjerika Nāgabhavana. When the Buddha, after eating the
meal given by Sujātā,
launched the bowl up stream, it travelled a short way and then stopped, having
reached the Nāga's abode under the Nerañjarā,
and then came into contact with the bowls similarly launched by the three
previous Buddhas of this kappa. To the Nāga because of his long life it seemed
that the previous Buddha had died only the preceding day, and he rejoiced to
think that another had been born. He went therefore to the scene of the Buddha's
Enlightenment with his Nāga maidens and they sang the Buddha's praises. J.i.70,
72; this incident is among those sculpturally represented in the Relic Chamber
of the
Mahā Thūpa (Mhv.xxxi.83); see also Dvy.392; Mtu.ii.265, 302, 304.

Kāla's life span was one kappa; therefore he
saw all the four Buddhas of this kappa, and when Asoka wished to see
the form of the Buddha, he sent for Mahākāla, who created for him a
beautiful figure of the Buddha, complete in every detail
(Mhv.v.87f.; Sp.i.43, etc.).

When the Buddha's relics, deposited at Rāmagāma,
were washed away, Mahākāla took the basket containing them into his
abode and there did them honour till they were removed, against his
will, by Sonuttara. Mhv.xxxi.25ff."

"Śakra (Sanskrit) or Sakka (Pāli)
is the ruler of the Heaven of the
Thirty-three gods in Buddhist cosmology. His full title is Śakro devānām
indraḥ (Pāli: Sakko devānaṃ indo "Śakra, lord of the gods").

Śakra is sometimes identified with the
Vedic deity Indra, but has a different name (although Sanskrit indra,
Pāli inda is sometimes used as an epithet in the sense "lord"). In
Buddhist texts, Śakra's myth and character are very different from those of
Indra. In Hindu texts, Śakra is sometimes named as one of the twelve Ādityas.

Śakra rules the heaven of the
Thirty-three gods, which is located on the top of Mount Sumeru (cf.
Meru), imagined to be the polar center of the physical world, around which the
Sun and Moon revolve. The heaven of the Thirty-three is the highest
of the heavens which is in direct contact with the Earth.

Like the other deities of this heaven, Śakra
is long-lived but mortal. When one Śakra dies, his place is taken by
another deity who becomes the new Śakra.

Buddhist stories about Śakra (past or present)
are found in the Jātaka stories and in several sutras, particularly
in the Saṃyutta Nikāya.

Śakra is married to
Sujā, daughter of the chief of the
Asuras, Vemacitrin (Pāli Vepacitti).

Despite
this relationship, a state of war generally exists between the
Thirty-three gods and the Asuras, which Śakra manages to resolve
with minimal violence and no loss of life.

In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, Śakra's birthday each year is celebrated
on the ninth day of the first lunar month of the
Chinese calendar (usually in February). Chinese Buddhists sometimes identify
Śakra with the Jade
Emperor (玉皇) in
Chinese mythology.

Śakra is mentioned in many
Buddhist sūtras, and is often shown consulting the
Buddha on questions of morality. Together with
Brahmā, he is considered a protector of the Buddhist
religion."

A deva, inhabitant of Tāvatimsa. He is the chief
architect, designer and decorator among the devas, and Sakka asks
for his services whenever necessary. Thus he was ordered to build
the palace called Dhamma for Mahāsudassana (D.ii.180) and another
for Mahāpanāda (J.iv.323; DA.iii.856).

He also built the hermitages for the
Bodhisatta in various births - e.g., as

Sumedha (J.i.7)

Kuddālapandita (J.i.314)

Hatthipāla (J.iv.489)

Ayoghara (J.iv.499)

Jotipāla (J.v.132)

Sutasoma (J.v.190)

Temiya (J.vi.21, 29)

Vessantara (J.vi.519f)

Vissakamma also built the hermitage for
Dukūlaka and Pārikā (J.vi.72).

On the day that the Buddha renounced the
world, Sakka sent Vissakamma in the guise of a shampooer to bathe
him and clothe him in his royal ornaments (J.i.60; DhA.i.70;
BuA.232; he also constructed ponds in which the prince might bathe,
AA.i.379); he also sent him to adorn Temiya on the day he left the
kingdom (J.vi.12).

Vissakamma erected the jewelled pavilion,
twelve leagues in compass, under the Gandamba, where the Buddha
performed the Twin Miracle and built the three stairways of jewels,
silver and gold, used by the Buddha in his descent from Tāvatimsa to
Sankassa (J.iv.265f). He built, the pavilions in which the Buddha
and five hundred arahants travelled to Uggapura, at the invitation
of Culla Subhaddā. (DhA.iii.470; and again for the journey to
Sunāpuranta, MA.ii.1017).

When Ajātasattu deposited his share of the
Buddha's relics in a thūpa, Sakka ordered Vissakamma to construct
around the thūpa a vālasanghātayanta (revolving wheel?) to prevent
anyone from approaching the relics. Later, when Dhammāsoka (Piyadassī)
wished to obtain these relics for his vihāra, Vissakamma appeared
before him in the guise of a village youth and, by shooting an arrow
at the controlling screw of the machine, stopped its revolutions
(DA.ii.613, 614).

He constructed the jewelled pavilion in which
Sonuttara placed the relies he brought from the Nāga world till the
time came for them to be deposited in the Mahā Thūpa, (Mhv.xxxi.76)
and on the day of their enshrinement, Vissakamma, acting on Sakka's
orders, decorated the whole of Ceylon (Mhv.xxxi.34). He also
provided the bricks used in the construction of the Mahā Thūpa
(Mhv.xxviii.8). Sometimes he would enter into a workman's body and
inspire him with ideas - e.g., in designing the form of the Mahā
Thūpa (Mhv.xxx.11). He was also responsible for the construction of
the golden vase in which the branch of the Bodhi tree was conveyed
to Ceylon (Mhv.xviii.24).

As in the case of Mātalī and Sakka,
Vissakamma is evidently the name of an office and not a personal
name. Thus, in the Suruci Jātaka (J.iv. 325), Vissakamma is
mentioned as a previous birth of Ananda, while, according to the
Dhammapada Commentary, the architect who helped Magha and his
companions in their good works, was reborn as Vissakamma. DhA.i.272.
The story given regarding Vissakamma in SNA.i.233, evidently refers
to the Mahākanha Jātaka. The deva who accompanied Sakka in the guise
of a dog in that Jātaka was Mātali and not Vissakamma.

The state-elephant of Dutthagāminī. He was of
the Chaddanta race, and was left by his mother and discovered by a
fisherman, Kandula, after whom he was named. Mhv.xxii.62f.

He grew up to be of great strength. When
Dutthagāminī's father died, his younger son, Tissa, took possession
of the queen-mother and of Kandula, the state-elephant, and fled,
but in the battle between the brothers, Kandula shook himself free
from Tissa and went over to Dutthagāminī, whom he served to the end
of his life. Kandula took a prominent part in the campaign against
the Damilas, distinguishing himself particularly in the siege of
Vijitapura (Mhv.xxiv.15, 89). In the single combat between Elāra and
Dutthagāminī. Kandula attacked Elāra's elephant, Mahāpabbata, and
disabled him (Mhv.xxv.5-83). It is said that once the warrior
Nandhimitta seized Kandula by his tusks and forced him on to his
haunches, and Kandula nursed a grudge against him until Nandhimitta
rescued him from being crushed under a gate-tower which fell on him
during his attack on Vijitapura. Mhv.xxv.22, 39f.; see also
Dpv.xviii.53; Mbv.133."

A park to the south of Anurādhapura. Between the
park and the city lay Nandana or Jotivana. The park was laid out by
Mutasīva, and was so called because at the time the spot was chosen
for a garden, a great cloud, gathering at an unusual time, poured
forth rain (Mhv.xi.2f). Devānampiyatissa gave the park to Mahinda
for the use of the Order (Mhv.xv.8, 24; Dpv.xviii.18; Sp.i.81) and
within its boundaries there came into being later the Mahā-Vihāra
and its surrounding buildings. The fifteenth chapter of the
Mahāvamsa (Mhv.xv.27ff) gives a list of the chief spots associated
with the religion, which came into existence there. Chief among
these are the sites of the Bodhi tree, the thirty two mālakas, the
Catussālā, the Mahā Thūpa, the Thūpārāma, the Lohapāsāda, and
various parivenas connected with Mahinda: Sunhāta, Dīghacankamana,
Phalagga, Therāpassaya, Marugana and Dīghasandasenāpati. Later, the
Abhayagīri vihāra and the Jetavanārāma were also erected there.

The Mahāmeghavana was visited by Gotama
Buddha (Mhv.i.80; Dpv.ii.61, 64), and also by the three Buddhas
previous to him. In the time of Kakusandha it was known as
Mahātittha, in that of Konagamana as Mahānoma, and in that of
Kassapa as Mahāsāgara (Mhv.xv.58, 92, 126).

The Mahāmeghavana was also called the
Tissārāma, and on the day it was gifted to the Sangha, Mahinda
scattered flowers on eight spots contained in it, destined for
future buildings, and the earth quaked eight times (Mhv.xv.174).
This was on the day of Mahinda's arrival in Anurādhapura. The first
building to be erected in the Mahāmeghavana was the Kālapāsāda
parivena (q.v.) for the use of Mahinda. In order to hurry on the
work, bricks used in the building were dried with torches
(Mhv.xv.203). The boundary of the Mahāmeghavana probably coincided
with the sīmā of the Mahāvihāra, but it was later altered by
Kanitthatissa, when he built the Dakkhina vihāra. Mhv.xxxvi.12. For
a deposition of the various spots of the Mahāmeghavana see Mbv.137."

The chief
of the parks in Tāvatimsa, where the inhabitants of Tāvatimsa,
headed by Indra, go for their amusement. (E.g., DhA.ii.266;
A.iii.40; J.vi.240; VvA.7, 34, 61, etc.; PvA.173, 176, 177, etc.;
Mtu.i.32, etc.).

Cakkavatti kings are born in Tāvatimsa after death and spend
their time in Nandanavana (S.v.342).

It is said (E.g., J.i.49) that there is a Nandanavana in each
deva world. The devas go there just before their death and disappear
in the midst of their revels. Thus, the Bodhisatta went to
Nandanavana in the Tusita world before his "descent" into
Mahāmāyās womb (J.i.50; see also J.vi.144).

In Nandanavana is a lake called Nandana (J.ii.189) and evidently
also a palace called Ekapundarīkavimāna (MT.568). Nandanavana was so
called because it awoke delight in the hearts of all who visited it
(J.v.158).

Sometimes ascetics, like Nārada (Ibid.,392), possessed of great
iddhi-power, would spend their siesta in the shadow of the grove."

A mountain, forming the centre of the world. It is submerged in the
sea to a depth of eighty four thousand yojanas and rises above the
surface to the same height. It is surrounded by seven mountain
ranges -

On the top of Sineru is Tāvatimsa
(SNA.ii.485f), while at its foot is the Asurabhavana of ten thousand
leagues; in the middle are the four Mahādīpā with their two thousand
smaller dīpā. (The Asurabhavana was not originally there, but sprang
up by the power of the Asuras when they were thrown down from
Tāvatimsa, DhA.i.272; see, e.g., SNA.i.201).

Sineru is often used in similes, its chief
characteristic being its un-shake ability (sutthuthapita) (E.g., SN.
vs.683). It is also called Meru or Sumeru (E.g., Cv.xlii.2),
Hemameru (E.g., Cv.xxxii.79) and Mahāneru (M.i.338; also Neru,
J.iii.247).

Each Cakkavāla has its own Sineru (A.i.227;
v.59), and a time comes when even Sineru is destroyed (S.iii.149).

When the Buddha went to Tāvatimsa, he covered
the distance there from the earth in three strides he set his right
foot down on the top of Yugandhara and his left on Sineru, the next
step brought him to Tāvatimsa, the whole distance so covered being
sixty eight hundred thousand leagues. DhA.iii.216."

"Sumeru (Sanskrit) or Sineru (Pāli)
is the name of the central world-mountain in
Buddhist cosmology. Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru
(Pāli Neru), to which is added the approbatory prefix su-,
resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru".

The concept of Sumeru is closely related to the
Hindu mythological concept of a central world mountain, called
Meru, but differs from the Hindu concept in several particulars.

According to Vasubandhu's
Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam, Sumeru is 80,000 yojanas tall. The
exact measure of the yojana is uncertain, but some accounts
put it at about 24,000 feet, or approximately 4 1/2 miles. It also
descends beneath the surface of the surrounding waters to a depth of
80,000 yojanas, being founded upon the basal layer of Earth. Sumeru
is often used as a simile for both size and stability in Buddhist
texts.

Sumeru is said to be shaped like an hourglass,
with a top and base of 80,000 yojanas square, but narrowing in the
middle (i.e., at a height of 40,000 yojanas) to 20,000 yojanas
square.

Sumeru is the polar center of a mandala-like
complex of seas and mountains. The square base of Sumeru is
surrounded by a square moat-like ocean, which is in turn surrounded
by a ring (or rather square) wall of mountains, which is in turn
surrounded by a sea, each diminishing in width and height from the
one closer to Sumeru. There are seven seas and seven surrounding
mountain-walls, until one comes to the vast outer sea which forms
most of the surface of the world, in which the known continents are
merely small islands. The known world, which is located on the
continent of Jambudvīpa, is directly south of Sumeru.

The dimensions stated in the
Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam are shown in the table below:

Name

Width

Height/Depth

Sumeru (Sineru) mountain

80,000 yojanas

80,000 yojanas

Sea

80,000 yojanas

80,000 yojanas

Yugandhara mountains

40,000 yojanas

40,000 yojanas

Sea

40,000 yojanas

40,000 yojanas

Iṣadhara (Isadhara) mountains

20,000 yojanas

20,000 yojanas

Sea

20,000 yojanas

20,000 yojanas

Khadiraka (Karavīka) mountains

10,000 yojanas

10,000 yojanas

Sea

10,000 yojanas

10,000 yojanas

Sudarśana (Sudassana) mountains

5,000 yojanas

5,000 yojanas

Sea

5,000 yojanas

5,000 yojanas

Aśvakarṇa (Assakaṇṇa) mountains

2,500 yojanas

2,500 yojanas

Sea

2,500 yojanas

2,500 yojanas

Vinadhara (Vinataka) mountains

1,250 yojanas

1,250 yojanas

Sea

1,250 yojanas

1,250 yojanas

Nimindhara (Nemindhara) mountains

625 yojanas

625 yojanas

Outer Sea

32,000 yojanas

relatively shallow

Cakravāḍa (Cakkavāḷa) mountains

(circular edge of the world)

312.5 yojanas

312.5 yojanas

The 80,000 yojana square top of Sumeru constitutes the "heaven" (devaloka) of
the Thirty-three gods, which is the highest plane in direct physical contact
with the earth. The next 40,000 yojanas below this heaven consist of sheer
precipice, narrowing in like an inverted mountain until it is 20,000 yojanas
square at a heigh of 40,000 yojanas above the sea.

From this point Sumeru expands again, going down in four terraced
ledges, each broader than the one above. The first terrace
constitutes the "heaven" of the Four Great Kings, and is divided
into four parts, facing north, south, east and west. Each section is
governed by one of the Four Great Kings, who faces outward toward
the quarter of the world that he supervises.

40,000 yojanas is also the height at which
the Sun and Moon circle Sumeru in a clockwise direction. This
rotation explains the alteration of day and night; when the Sun is
north of Sumeru, the shadow of the mountain is cast over the
continent of Jambudvīpa, and it is night there; at the same time it
is noon in the opposing northern continent of Uttarakuru, dawn in
the eastern continent of Pūrvavideha, and dusk in the western
continent of Aparagodānīya. Half a day later, when the Sun has moved
to the south, it is noon in Jambudvīpa, dusk in Pūrvavideha, dawn in
Aparagodānīya, and midnight in Uttarakuru.

The next three terraces down the slopes of
Sumeru are each longer and broader by a factor of two. They contain
the followers of the Four Great Kings, namely nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas,
and kumbhāṇḍas.

The names and dimensions of the terraces on
the lower slopes of Sumeru are given below:

Name

Height above the sea

Breadth

Length (on one side)

Cāturmahārājika

40,000 yojanas

2,000 yojanas

24,000 yojanas

Sadāmada

30,000 yojanas

4,000 yojanas

32,000 yojanas

Mālādhara

20,000 yojanas

8,000 yojanas

48,000 yojanas

Karoṭapāni

10,000 yojanas

16,000 yojanas

80,000 yojanas

Below Sumeru, in the seas around it, is the
abode of the Asuras who are at war with the Thirty-three gods."

"Mount Meru or Mount Sumeru is
a sacred mountain in Hindu and Buddhist mythology considered to be
the center of the universe. It is believed to be the abode of Brahma
and other deities of both religions. The mountain is said to be
80,000 leagues (450,000 km) high and located in Jambudvipa, one of
the continents on earth in Hindu mythology. Many Hindu temples,
including Angkor Wat, the principal temple of Angkor in Cambodia,
have been built as symbolic representations of the mountain.

Legends

Mount Meru finds mention innumerable times in
Hindu mythology. Some of the better-known legends are recounted here.

Meru, Vayu and Lanka

Legends say that Mount Meru and the wind god
Vayu were good friends. However, the sage Narada approached Vayu and
incited him to humble the mountain. Vayu blew with full force for
one full year, but Meru was shielded by Garuda with his wings.
However, after a year Garuda took respite for some time. Taking
advantage of this opportunity, Vayu increased its force. Thus the
apex of the mountain was broken and it fell into the sea and created
the island of Sri Lanka.

Meru, Agastya and the Vindhya mountains

Another legend well-known to this day in India,
is regarding the daily circumnambulation of the sun around mount
Meru, and involves the sage Agastya. The legend goes thus:

The Vindhya mountains that separate north and
south India from each other once showed a tendency to grow so high
as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun. This was accompanied
by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range, which
demanded that Surya, the sun-God, circumnambulate the Vindhya
mountains daily, just as he does Mount Meru (identified by some as
being the north pole). The need arose to subdue, by guile, the
Vindhyas, and Agastya was chosen to do that.

Agastya journeyed from north to south, and on
the way encountered the now impassable Vindhya mountains. He asked
the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In
reverence for so eminent a sage as Agastya, the Vindhya mountains
bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and
enter south India. The Vindhya range also promised not to increase
in height until Agastya and his family returned to the north.
Agastya settled permanently in the south, and the Vindhya range,
true to its word, never grew further. Thus, Agastya accomplished by
guile something that would have been impossible to accomplish by
force.

Beliefs

The legends,
puranas and Hindu
epics frequently state that Surya, the sun-God, circumnambulates Mount Meru
every day. In late 19th c. when it was believed that Aryans may have
had their original home Urheimat in North Europe, it was thought
that Mount Meru may actually refer to the north pole. Some beliefs,
local to that area of the Himalayas, associate mythical Mount Meru
with a mountain called
Kailasa near the
Lake Manasarovar in Tibet.

For the equivalent central mountain in
Buddhist cosmology, see Sumeru."

Chief of the devas of the Tusita world.
(D.i.218; A.iv.243; S.iv.280). It was the name of the Bodhisatta
when he was in Tusita (BuA. 45; J.i.48) and also that of his
successor (J.i.81). At important festivals, Santusita appears with a
yak tail whisk. E.g., Mhv.xxxi.78."

Four hundred years of human life are equal to one day of the
Tusita world and four thousand years, so reckoned, is the term of
life of a deva born in Tusita (A.i.214; iv.261, etc.).

Sometimes Sakadāgāmins (e.g., Purāna and Isidatta) are born there
(A.iii.348; v.138; also DhA.i.129; UdA.149, 277).

It is the rule for all Bodhisattas to be born in Tusita in their
last life but one; then, when the time comes for the appearance of a
Buddha in the world, the devas of the ten thousand world systems
assemble and request the Bodhisatta to be born among men. Great
rejoicings attend the acceptance of this request (A.ii.130; iv.312;
DhA.i.69f; J.i.47f).

Gotama's name, while in Tusita, was Setaketu (Sp.i.161), and the
Bodhisatta Metteyya, the future Buddha, is now living in Tusita
under the name of Nathadeva.

The Tusita world is considered the most beautiful of the
celestial worlds, and the pious love to be born there because of the
presence of the Bodhisatta (Mhv.xxxii.72f).

Tusita is also the abode of each Bodhisatta's parents
(DhA.i.110).

The king of the Tusita world is Santusita; he excels his fellows
in ten respects - beauty, span of life, etc. (A.iv.243; but see
Cv.lii.47, where the Bodhisatta Metteyya is called the chief of
Tusita).

Among those reborn in Tusita are also mentioned Dhammika,
Anāthapindika, Mallikā, the thera Tissa (Tissa 10), Mahādhana and Dutthagāmani.

The Tusita devas are so-called because they are full of joy (tuttha-hatthāti
Tusitā) (VibhA.519; NidA.109).

The inhabitants of Tusita are called Tusitā. They were present at
the
Mahāsamaya (D.ii.161)."

A devaputta, chief of the Yāma-devas (A.iv.242; D.i.217). The
courtesan, Sirimā, was reborn after death, as the wife of Suyāma
(SNA.i.244). When the Buddha descended from the deva world to earth,
at Sankassa, Suyāma accompanied him, holding a yak's-tail fan (vālavījana).
DhA.iii.226; Vsm.392; cf. BuA.239; J.i.48, 53; Mhv.xxxi.78."

A class of Devas, mentioned in lists of devas
between those of Tāvatimsa and those of Tusita

(E.g., Vin.i.12, A.i.228; iii.287; M.ii.194; iii.100, etc.).

Two hundred years of human life are but one day to the Yāma devā, and two
thousand Years, composed of such days, form their life period (A.i.213; iv.253).
Sirimā, sister of Jīvaka, was born after death in the Yāma world and became the
wife of Suyāma, king of Yāmabhavana. From there she visited the Buddha with five
hundred others. SNA i.244f.; see also VvA.246 for an upāsaka born in the
Yāma-world.

In the
Hatthipāla Jātaka (J.iv.475) mention is made of four Yāma-devas who were reborn
as men.

This world derives its name from the Four
Great Kings (Cattāro Mahārājāno) who dwell there as guardians
of the four quarters;

Dhatarattha of the East,

Virūlhaka of the South,

Virūpakkha of the West, and

Vessarana of the North (D.ii.207f;
iii.194f).

They keep large retinues consisting,
respectively, of Gandhabbas, Kumbhandas, Nāgas and Yakkhas, all of
whom dwell in the same world as their lords and accompany them on
their travels. These kings are mentioned (D.ii.257f) as having
undertaken the protection of the Buddha from the moment of his
conception in his mother's womb, and in the Ātānātiya Sutta, they
appear as protectors not only of the Buddha but also of his
followers (See, e.g., DhA.ii.146; iii.96).

The Four Kings appear to have been regarded
as Recorders of the happenings in the assemblies of the devas
(D.ii.225). On the eighth day of the lunar half-month, they send
their councillors out into the world to discover if men cultivate
righteousness and virtue; on the fourteenth day they send their sons,
on the fifteenth day they themselves appear in the world, all these
visits having the same purpose. Then, at the assembly of the devas,
they submit their report to the gods of Tāvatimsa, who rejoice or
lament according as to whether men prosper in righteousness or not
(A.i.142f.; for more details see AA.i.376f).

These four Gods surpass the other inhabitants
of their worlds in ten ways - beauty, length of life, etc. - because
their merit is greater than that of the others (A.iv.242).

Besides these Regent Gods and their followers,
other dwellers are to be found in their world - the Khiddāpadosikā,
the Manopadosikā, the Sitavalāhakā, the Unhavalāhakā, and the
devaputtas Candima and Suriya (VibhA.519; MNidA.108).

Life in the Cātummahārājikā world lasts,
according to human computation, ninety thousand years (DA.ii.472,
647, but see Kvu.207). Beings are born there as a result of various
acts of piety and faith which, however, are based on motives not
very exalted (A.iv.60).

The Cātummahārājikā world is situated
half-way up Mount Sineru. Some of the devas of the world dwell in
the mountain, others in the sky. (On these gods see Moulton:
Zoroastrianism 22-7, 242.)"

The second of the six deva-worlds, the first
being the
Cātummahārājika world. Tāvatimsa stands at the top of Mount Sineru (or Sudassana). Sakka
is king of both worlds, but lives in Tāvatimsa. Originally it was
the abode of the Asuras; but when Māgha was born as Sakka and dwelt
with his companions in Tāvatimsa he disliked the idea of sharing his
realm with the Asuras, and, having made them intoxicated, he hurled
them down to the foot of Sineru, where the Asurabhavana was later
established.

The chief difference between these two worlds
seems to have been that the Pāricchattaka tree grew in Tāvatimsa,
and the Cittapātali tree in Asurabhavana. In order that the Asuras
should not enter Tāvatimsa, Sakka had five walls built around it,
and these were guarded by Nāgas, Supannas,
Kumbhandas, Yakkhas and Cātummahārājika devas (J.i.201ff; also DhA.i.272f). The
entrance to Tāvatimsa was by way of the Cittakūtadvārakotthaka, on
either side of which statues of Indra (Indapatimā) kept guard
(J.vi.97). The whole kingdom was ten thousand leagues in extent
(DhA.i.273), and contained more than one thousand pāsādas
(J.vi.279). The chief features of Tāvatimsa were its parks - the
Phārusaka, Cittalatā, Missaka and Nandana - the Vejayantapāsāda, the
Pāricchatta tree, the elephant-king Erāvana and the Assembly-hall
Sudhammā (J.vi.278; MA.i.183; cp. Mtu.i.32). Mention is also made of
a park called Nandā (J.i.204). Besides the Pāricchataka (or Pārijāta)
flower, which is described as a Kovilāra (A.iv.117), the divine
Kakkāru flower also grew in Tāvatimsa (J.iii.87). In the
Cittalatāvana grows the āsāvatī creeper, which blossoms once in a
thousand years (J.iii.250f).

It is the custom of all Buddhas to spend the
vassa following the performance of the
Yamakapātihāriya, in Tāvatimsa. Gotama Buddha went there to preach the
Abhidhamma to his mother, born there as a devaputta. The distance of
sixty-eight thousand leagues from the earth to Tāvatimsa he covered
in three strides, placing his foot once on
Yugandhara and again on Sineru.

The Buddha spent three months in Tāvatimsa,
preaching all the time, seated on Sakka's throne, the
Pandukambalasilāsana, at the foot of the Pāricchattaka tree. Eighty
crores of devas attained to a knowledge of the truth. This was in
the seventh year after his Enlightenment (J.iv.265; DhA.iii.216f;
BuA. p.3). It seems to have been the frequent custom of ascetics,
possessed of iddhi-power, to spend the afternoon in Tāvatimsa (E.g.,
Nārada, J.vi.392; and Kāladevala, J.i.54).

Moggallāna paid numerous visits to Tāvatimsa,
where he learnt from those dwelling there stories of their past
deeds, that he might repeat them to men on earth for their
edification (VvA. p.4).

The Jātaka Commentary mentions several human
beings who were invited by Sakka, and who were conveyed to Tāvatimsa
- e.g. Nimi, Guttila, Mandhātā and the queen Sīlavatī. Mandhātā
reigned as co-ruler of Tāvatimsa during the life period of
thirty-six Sakkas, sixty thousand years (J.ii.312). The inhabitants
of Tāvatimsa are thirty-three in number, and they regularly meet in
the Sudhammā Hall. (See Sudhammā for details). A description of such
an assembly is found in the Janavasabha Sutta. The Cātummahārājika
Devas (q.v.) are present to act as guards. Inhabitants of other
deva- and brahma-worlds seemed sometimes to have been present as
guests - e.g. the Brahmā Sanankumāra, who came in the guise of
Pañcasikha. From the description given in the sutta, all the
inhabitants of Tāvatimsa seem to have been followers of the Buddha,
deeply devoted to his teachings (D.ii.207ff). Their chief place of
offering was the Cūlāmanicetiya, in which Sakka deposited the hair
of Prince Siddhattha, cut off by him when he renounced the world and
put on the garments of a recluse on the banks of the Nerañjarā
(J.i.65). Later, Sakka deposited here also the eye-tooth of the
Buddha, which Doha hid in his turban, hoping to keep it for himself
(DA.ii.609; Bu.xxviii.6, 10).

The gods of Tāvatimsa sometimes come to earth
to take part in human festivities (J.iii.87). Thus Sakka, Vissakamma
and Mātali are mentioned as having visited the earth on various
occasions. Mention is also made of goddesses from Tāvatimsa coming
to bathe in the Anotatta and then spending the rest of the day on
the Manosilātala (J.v.392).

The capital city of Tāvatimsa was Masakkasāra
(Ibid., p.400). The average age of an inhabitant of Tāvatimsa is
thirty million years, reckoned by human computation. Each day in
Tāvatimsa is equal in time to one hundred years on earth
(DhA.i.364). The gods of Tāvatimsa are most handsome; the Licchavis,
among earth-dwellers, are compared to them (DhA.iii.280). The
stature of some of the Tāvatimsa dwellers is three-quarters of a
league; their undergarment is a robe of twelve leagues and their
upper garment also a robe of twelve leagues. They live in mansions
of gold, thirty leagues in extent (Ibid., p.8). The Commentaries (E.g.,
SA.i.23; AA.i.377) say that Tāvatimsa was named after Magha and his
thirty-two companions, who were born there as a result of their good
deeds in Macalagāma. Whether the number of the chief inhabitants of
this world always remained at thirty-three, it is impossible to say,
though some passages, e.g. in the Janavasabha Sutta, lead us to
suppose so.

Sometimes, as in the case of Nandiya, who
built the great monastery at Isipatana, a mansion would appear in
Tāvatimsa, when an earth-dweller did a good deed capable of
obtaining for him birth in this deva-world; but this mansion would
remain unoccupied till his human life came to an end (DhA.iii.291).
There were evidently no female devas among the Thirty-three. Both
Māyā and Gopikā (q.v.) became devaputtas when born in Tāvatimsa. The
women there were probably the attendants of the devas. (But see, e.g.,
Jālini and the various stories of VvA).

There were many others besides the
Thirty-three who had their abode in Tāvatimsa. Each deva had
numerous retinues of attendants, and the dove-footed (kaktgapādiniyo)
nymphs (accharā) of Tāvatimsa are famous in literature for their
delicate beauty. The sight of these made Nanda, when escorted by the
Buddha to Tāvatimsa, renounce his love for Janapadakalyānī Nandā
(J.ii.92; Ud.iii.2).

The people of Jambudīpa excelled the devas of
Tāvatimsa in courage, mindfulness and piety (A.iv.396). Among the
great achievements of Asadisakumāra was the shooting of an arrow as
far as Tāvatimsa (J.ii.89).

A tree in Tāvatimsa, which grew in the
Nandanavana as the result of the Kovilāra tree planted by Magha
outside the Sudhammāsālā.

It is one hundred leagues in circumference
and at its foot is the
Pandukambalasilāsana (DhA.i.273). The
Cittapātali in the Asura world corresponds to the Pāricchattaka in Tāvatimsa,
but the flowers are different (Ibid., 280; SNA.485).

The colour of the flowers is visible fifty
leagues away, while their perfume travels one hundred leagues. The
devas eagerly watch each stage of development of leaf and flower,
and each stage is marked by great rejoicings (A.iv.117f).

When the flowers are fully open they shine
like the morning sun. They are never plucked; a wind arises and
sweeps away the faded flowers and scatters fresh ones on the seats
of Sakka and the other gods of Tāvatimsa. The bodies of the devas
are completely covered with the sweetly scented pollen, making them
resemble golden caskets. The ceremony of playing with the flowers
lasts four months (AA.ii.730f).

The Pāricchattaka is one of the seven trees
which last throughout the kappa (AA.i.264).

The Pāricchattaka is generally described as a
Kovilāra (E.g., VvA. 174). It is also called the Pārijāta, the
Sanskrit name being Pāriyātra. E.g., Dvy.184, 195, 219."

"Bauhinia variegata is a
species of
flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to southeastern Asia, from
southern China west to India. Common names include Orchidtree and
Mountain-ebony.

It is a small to
medium-sized tree growing to 10-12 m tall, deciduous in the dry season.
The leaves are 10-20 cm long and broad, rounded, and bilobed at the
base and apex. The flowers are conspicuous, bright pink or white,
8-12 cm diameter, with five petals. The fruit is a pod 15-30 cm long,
containing several seeds.

Cultivation and uses

It is a very popular
ornamental tree in subtropical and tropical climates, grown for its scented
flowers. In some areas it has become
naturalised and
invasive."

A class of non human beings generally described
as amanussā. They are mentioned with Devas, Rakkhasas, Dānavas,
Gandhabbas, Kinnaras, and Mahoragas (? Nāgas) (E.g., J.v.420).

In other lists (E.g., PvA. 45, 55) they range immediately above
the Petas; in fact, some of the happier Petas are called Yakkhas.
Elsewhere (E.g., A.ii.38) they rank, in progressive order, between
manussā and gandhabbā. They are of many different kinds: spirits,
ogres, dryads, ghosts, spooks. In the early records, yakkha, like
nāgā, as an appellative, was anything but depreciative. Thus not
only is Sakka, king of the gods, so referred to (M.i.252; J.iv.4;
DA.i.264), but even the Buddha is spoken of as a yakkha in poetic
diction (M.i.386). Many gods, such as Kakudha, are so addressed
(S.i.54).

According to a passage in the Vimānavatthu Commentary, (VvA.333)
which gives illustrations, the term is used for Sakka, the Four
Regent Gods (Mahārājāno), the followers of Vessavana, and also for
puriso (individual soul?). In the scholiast to the Jayadissa Jātaka
(J.v.33), the figure of the hare in the moon is also called yakkha.
Of these above named, the followers of Vessavana appear to be the
Yakkhas proper. The term yakkha as applied to purisa is evidently
used in an exceptionally philosophical sense as meaning "soul" in
such passages as ettāvatā yakkhassa suddhi (SN.vs.478), or ettāvat'
aggam no vadanti h' ekā, yakkhassa suddhim idha pānditāse
(SN.vs.875).

In the Niddesa (MNid.282), yakkha is explained by satta, nara,
mānava, posa, puggala, jīva, jagu, jantu, indagu, manuja. The last
term is significant as showing that yakkha also means "man."

The cult of yakkhas seems to have arisen primarily from the woods
and secondarily from the legends of sea faring merchants. To the
latter origin belong the stories connected with vimānas found in or
near the sea or in lakes. The worship of trees and the spirits
inhabitating them is one of the most primitive forms of religion.
Some, at least, of the yakkhas are called rukkha devatā (E.g.,
J.iii.309, 345; Pv.i.9; PvA.5) (spirits of trees), and others
bhummadevatā, (PvA.45,55) (spirits of the earth), who, too, seem to
have resided in trees. Generally speaking, the Yakkhas were decadent
divinities, beings half deified, having a deva's supernormal powers,
particularly as regards influencing people, partly helpful, partly
harmful. They are sometimes called devatā (E.g., S.i.205), or
devaputta (E.g., PvA. 113, 139). Some of these, like Indakūta and
Suciloma, are capable of intelligent questioning on metaphysics and
ethics. All of them possess supernatural powers; they can transfer
themselves at will, to any place, with their abodes, and work
miracles, such as assuming any shape at will. An epithet frequently
applied is mahiddhika (E.g., Pv.ii.9; J.vi.118). Their appearance is
striking as a result of former good kamma (Pv.i.2, 9; ii.11; iv.3,
etc.). They are also called kāmakāmī, enjoying all kinds of luxuries
(Pv.i.3), but, because of former bad kamma, they are possessed of
odd qualities, thus they are shy, they fear palmyra leaf and iron.
Their eyes are red and they neither wink nor cast a shadow.
J.iv.492; v.34; vi.336, 337; these various characteristics are,
obviously, not found in all Yakkhas. The Yakkhas are evidently of
different grades - as is the case with all classes of beings – the
highest among them approximate very nearly to the devas and have
deva-powers, the lowest resemble petas. The Yakkhas are specially
mentioned as being afraid of palm leaves (J.iv.492).

Their abode is their self created palace, which is anywhere, in
the air, in trees, etc. These are mostly ākasattha (suspended in the
air), but some of them, like the abode of ālavaka, are bhumattha (on
the ground) and are described as being fortified (SNA.i.222).
Sometimes whole cities e.g., ālakamandā stand under the
protection of, or are inhabited by, Yakkhas.

In many respects they resemble the Vedic Pisācas, though they are
of different origin. They are evidently remnants of an ancient
demonology and have had incorporated in them old animistic beliefs
as representing creatures of the wilds and the forests, some of them
based on ethnological features. (See Stede: Gespenstergeschichten
des Petavatthu v.39ff ).

In later literature the Yakkhas have been degraded to the state
of red eyed cannibal ogres. The female Yakkhas (Yakkhinī) are, in
these cases, more fearful and evil minded than the male. They eat
flesh and blood (J.iv.549; v.34); and devour even men (D.ii.346;
J.ii.15ff.) and corpses (J.i.265). They eat babies (J.v.21; vi.336)
and are full of spite and vengeance (DhA.i.47; ii.35f.). The story
of Bhūta Thera is interesting because his elder brothers and sisters
were devoured by a hostile Yakkha, so the last child is called Bhūta
to propitiate the Yakkha by making him the child's sponsor!

Ordinarily the attitude of the Yakkhas towards man is one of
benevolence. They are interested in the spiritual welfare of the
human beings with whom they come in contact and somewhat resemble
tutelary genii. In the Atānātiya Sutta (D.iii.194f), however, the
Yakkha king, Vessavana, is represented as telling the Buddha that,
for the most part, the Yakkhas believe neither in the Buddha nor in
his teachings, which enjoin upon his followers abstention from
various evils and are therefore distasteful to some of the Yakkhas.
Such Yakkhas are disposed to molest the followers of the Buddha in
their woodland haunts. Cp. the story of the Yakkha who wished to
kill Sāriputta (Ud.iv.4). But the Mahā Yakkhas (a list in
D.iii.204f), the generals and commanders among Yakkhas, are always
willing to help holy men and to prevent wicked Yakkhas from hurting
them. Among Yakkhas are some beings who are sotāpannas - e.g.,
Janavasabha, Suciloma and Khara (s.v.). Some Yakkhas even act as
messengers from another world, and will save prospective sinners
from committing evil (Pv.iv.1). The case of the Yakkha Vajirapāni is
of special interest. D.i.95. The Commentary (DA.i.264) says he is
not an ordinary Yakkha, but Sakka himself.

He is represented as a kind of mentor, hovering in the air,
threatening to kill Ambattha, if he does not answer the Buddha's
question the third time he is asked. In many cases the Yakkhas are
"fallen angels" and come eagerly to listen to the word of the Buddha
in order to be able to rise to a higher sphere of existence e.g.,
Piyankaramātā and Punabbasumātā, and even Vessavana, listening to
Velukandakī Nandamātā reciting the Parāyana Vagga (A.iv.63). At the
preaching of the Mahāsamaya Sutta (q.v.) many hundreds of thousands
of Yakkhas were present among the audience.

It has been pointed out (Stede, op. cit) that the names of the
Yakkhas often give us a clue to their origin and function. These are
taken from (a) their bodily appearance e.g., Kuvannā, Khara,
Kharaloma, Kharadāthika, Citta, Cittarāja, Silesaloma, Sūciloma and
Hāritā; (b) their place of residence, attributes of their realms,
animals, plants, etc. e.g., Ajakalāpaka, ālavaka (forest dweller),
Uppala, Kakudha (name of plant), Kumbhīra, Gumbiya, Disāmukha,
Yamamoli, Vajira, Vajirapāni or Vajirabāhu, Sātāgira, Serīsaka; (c)
qualities of character, etc. e.g., Adhamma, Katattha, Dhamma,
Punnaka, Māra, Sakata; (d) embodiments of former persons e.g.,
Janavasabha (lord of men= Bimbisāra), Dīgha, Naradeva, Pandaka,
Sīvaka, Serī.

Vessavana (q.v.) is often mentioned as king of the Yakkhas. He is
one of the four Regent Gods, and the ātānātiya Sutta (D.iii.199ff)
contains a vivid description of the Yakkha kingdom of Uttarakuru,
with its numerous cities, crowds of inhabitants, parks, lakes and
assembly halls. Vessavana is also called Kuvera, and the Yakkhas are
his servants and messengers. They wait upon him in turn. The
Yakkhinīs draw water for him, and often are so hard worked that many
die in his service. E.g., J.iv.492. Mention is also made (e.g.,
DA.ii.370) of Yakkhadāsīs who have to dance and sing to the devas
during the night. Early in the morning they drink a cup of toddy (surā)
and go off into a deep sleep, from which they rise betimes in the
evening ready for their duties.

No one, apparently, is free from this necessity of waiting upon
the king even Janavasabba has to run errands for Vessavana
(D.ii.207). Among the duties of Vessavana is the settling of
disputes between the devas, and this keeps him (J.vi.270) much
occupied. In this work he is helped by the Yakkhasenāpati, whose
business it is to preside over the courts during eight days of each
mouth (SNA.i.197). The Yakkhas hold regular assemblies on
Manosilātala on the Bhagalavatīpabbata (SNA.i.187; cp. D.iii.201 and
DA.iii.967). As followers of Kuvera, lord of riches, the Yakkhas are
the guardians and the liberal spenders of underground riches, hidden
treasures, etc., with which they delight men. E.g., Pv.ii.11;
PvA.145; Pv.iv.12; PvA.274. These were seven yakkhas who guarded the
wealth of Jotiyasetthi (DhA.iv.208f.).

It is difficult to decide whether the Yakkhas, who are the
aborigines of Ceylon (Lankā), were considered human or non human.
Kuvenī, one of their princesses, and her maid, can both assume
different forms, but Vijaya marries Kuveni and has two children by
her. (Cp. Vin.iii.37; iv. 20; where sexual intercourse with a Yakkha
is forbidden). The Yakkhas are invisible, and Vijaya is able to kill
them only with the help of Kuveni (Mhv.vii.36); but their clothes
are found fit for Vijaya and his followers to wear (Mhv.vii.38).
Again, Cetiyā (q.v.) could make herself invisible and assume the
form of a mare, but Pandukābhaya lived with her for four years and
she gave him counsel in battle. Later, when he held festivities, he
had the Yakkha Cittarāja on the throne beside him (Mhv.x.87). In all
probability these Yakkhas were originally considered as humans, but
later came to be confused with non humans. Their chief cities were
Lankāpura and Sirīsavatthu.

A Gandhabba. His favourite instrument was the
Beluvapanduvīnā. He was considered a favourite of the Buddha
(DA.iii.699), and when Sakka visited the Buddha at the Indasālaguhā
in order to ask him certain questions, he sent Pañcasikha in
advance, that he might obtain permission for the interview. The
episode in given in full in the Sakkapañha Sutta (D.ii.263ff.).

Pañcasikha approached the Buddha and playing
on his vinā, sang of the beauties of the Buddha, the Doctrine,
Arahants and Love. The verses really formed a love poem addressed to
his beloved, Bhaddā Suriyavaccasā, daughter of the Gandhabba
Timbarū. The Buddha praised his music and song and questioned him
about the poem. He confessed that when the Buddha was staying under
the Ajapāla nirgodha, before the Enlightenment, he (Pañcasikha) had
met Suriyavaccasā going with her father to dance before Sakka.
Pañcasikha thereupon fell in love with her; but she favoured the
suit of Sikhandi, son of Mātali. Pañcasikha thereupon composed a
song, which he sang to her. She was greatly pleased with the
references in the song to the Sākiyan sage of whom she had heard
when she went to the Sudhammāsabhā, (on this occasion Sakka,
pronounced his 8 fold eulogy of the Buddha, contained in the
Mahāgovinda Sutta, says Buddhaghosa, DA.ii.704) and she consented to
marry Pañcasikha. It is said that Sakka blessed the marriage in
return for Pañcasikha's intercession with the Buddha on his behalf.

In the Janavasabha Sutta (D.ii.211; also in
the Mahāgovinda Sutta, D.ii.230) it is stated that when Brahmā
Sanankumāra appeared before the assembly of the gods of Tāvatimsa
and materialized himself he assumed the form of Pañcasikha.
Buddhaghosa says (DA.ii.640), by way of explanation, that all the
devas loved Pañcasikha and wished to resemble him. In the
Mahāgovinda Sutta (D.i.220; cp. Mtu.iii.197ff) Pañcasikha is
represented as conveying to the Buddha a full report of the
happenings in the assembly of the devas, when Sakka spoke the
Buddha's praises.

No really satisfactory explanation is found
in the Commentaries of Pañcasikha's name. Buddhaghosa says
(DA.ii.647) Pañcasikho ti pañcacūlo, pañcakundaliko, and goes on to
say that Pañcasikha was born once as a human being, and, while yet a
boy wearing his hair in five knots* (pañcacūlakadāraka kāle), he
became chief of those who tended the calves.

* This is done even now in Ceylon, where
young boys' hair is tied round their heads in several knots. But
in one place (DA.i.296) Buddhaghosa says that one way of
insulting a man was to shave his head, leaving him five locks of
hair (garahāyā ti pañcasikhā mundakaranam). And, again
(SA.i.171), he mentions that Sanankumāra retained his eternal
youth because in a previous life he had developed jhāna while
yet a lad (pañcasikhakumārakāle). See also J.vi.496, where a
traitor had his hair tied in five knots as a sign of disgrace.

Together with other lads he engaged in works
of public utility, such as repairing roads, digging wells, building
rest houses, etc., and he died while young. He was reborn in the
Cātummahārājika world, destined to live for ninety thousand years,
his body three gāvutas in height. He wore on his person one hundred
cartloads of ornaments and rubbed nine pots of perfume on his body.
He wore red robes, and on his head a chaplet of red gold, round
which his hair was arranged in five locks (kuntalikehi), which fell
back as in the case of a young boy
(pañcacūli-kadārakaparihāren'eva).

It was Pañcasikha who first received from the
king of the Cātummahārājika worlds and their ministers reports of
good deeds done by human beings. These he would pass on to Mātali,
who, in his turn, presented them to Sakka (DA.ii.650). On the day of
the Devārohana, when the Buddha descended from Tāvatimsa, Pañcasikha
was present to render honour to the Teacher in song and music
(DhA.iii.225; AA.i.72; Vsm.392). According to the legends (E.g.,
Mhv.xxx.75; xxxi.82) he was present with the Buddha on other
occasions as well.

Pañcasikha was evidently not only the name of
a person, but also of an office (like Sakka), for in the
Bilārakosiya Jātaka Ananda is said to have been born as Pañcasikha
and to have helped Sakka and others to make of Bīlārakosiya a
generous man (J.iv.69). Similarly, in the Sudhābhojana Jātaka,
Anuruddha is identified with Pañcasikha. J.v.412."

A thera. He superintended the construction of
the Mahāthūpa at Anurādhapura (Mhv.xxxviii.98; Dpv.xix.5, 6, 8).
Dutthagāmanī consulted him with regard to all details and appointed
him kammādhitthāyaka from the commencement of the work (MT.550f). He
had great psychic powers, and at the festival of the dedication of
the Thūpa he created a parasol of copper, as great as the universe,
to ward off any harm that might befall those taking part in the
celebrations (Mhv.xxxi.85). He was at the side of the king
throughout the festival (Mhv.xxxi.105), and, by virtue of his power,
all the inhabitants of Ceylon, who wished to worship the relics at
the Mahāthūpa, were enabled to go to Anurādhapura the moment the
wish to do so entered their hearts, and to return the same day
(Mhv.xxxi.115).

This Indagutta is probably to be identified
with the thera Indagutta, the head of a great parivena in Rājagaha,
who came to Ceylon with eighty thousand monks to be present at the
foundation-ceremony of the Mahāthūpa (Mhv.xxix.30)."

The name given to a whole world-system, there
being countless such systems.

Each Cakkavāla is twelve hundred and three
thousand, four hundred and fifty yojanas in extent and consists of
the earth, two hundred and four thousand nahutas of yojanas in
volume, surrounded by a region of water four hundred and eight
thousand nahutas of yojanas in volume. This rests on air, the
thickness of which is nine hundred and sixty thousand nahutas of
yojanas. In the centre of the Cakkavāla is Mount Sineru, one hundred
and sixty-eight yojanas in height, half of which is immersed in the
ocean.

Around Sineru are seven mountain ranges,
Yugandhara, Isadhara, Karavīka, Sudassana, Nemindhara, Vinataka and
Assakanna. The mountains are inhabited by the Regent Gods (Mahārājas)
and their followers, the Yakkhas.

Within the Cakkavāla is the Himavā mountain, one hundred leagues high, with
eighty-four thousand peaks. Surrounding the whole Cakkavāla is the Cakkavālasilā.
Belonging to each Cakkavāla is a moon, forty-nine leagues in diameter, a sun of
fifty leagues, the Tāvatimsabhavana, the Asurabhavana, the Avīcimahāniraya and
the four mahādīpas - Jambudīpa,
Aparagoyāna,
Pubbavideha and
Uttarakuru, each mahādīpa surrounded by five hundred minor dīpas.

Between the Cakkavalas exist the
Lokantarika-niraya (SA.ii.442f.; DhsA.297f).

In each Cakkavāla are four Regent Gods (Cattāro
Mahārājā) (AA.i.439).

A sun can illuminate only one Cakkavāla; the
rays of light from the Buddha's body can illuminate all the
Cakkavālas (AA.i.440)."

The mango-tree, at the gate of Sāvatthi, under
which the Buddha performed the Yamaka-pātihāriya. The king's
gardener, Ganda, while on his way to the palace to give the king a
ripe mango-fruit from the palace gardens, saw the Buddha going on
his alms-rounds and offered him the mango. The Buddha ate it
immediately, and gave the seed to Ananda to be planted by the
gardener at the city-gate. A tree of one hundred cubits sprouted
forth at once, covered with fruit and flowers. At the foot of this
tree Vissakamma, by the order of Sakka, built a pavilion of the
seven kinds of precious things. J.iv.264f; J.i.88; DhA.iii.206ff;
Mil.349."

The miracle of the "double appearances”. When
the Buddha laid down a rule forbidding the exercise of supernatural
powers by monks - following on the miracle performed by Pindola
Bhāradvāja - the heretics went about saying that henceforth they
would perform no miracles except with the Buddha. Bimbisāra reported
this to the Buddha, who at once accepted the challenge, explaining
that the rule was for his disciples and did not apply to himself.
He, therefore, went to Sāvatthi, the place where all Buddhas perform
the Miracle. In reply to Pasenadi, the Buddha said he would perform
the miracle at the foot of the Gandamba tree on the full moon day of
Asālha [in July]. This was in the seventh year after the
Enlightenment (DA.i.57).

The heretics therefore uprooted all mango trees
for one league around, but, on the promised day, the Buddha went to
the king's garden, accepted the mango offered by Ganda, and caused a
marvellous tree to sprout from its seed. The people, discovering
what the heretics had done, attacked them, and they had to flee
helter-skelter. It was during this flight that Pūrana Kassapa
committed suicide. The multitude, assembled to witness the miracle,
extended to a distance of thirty six leagues. The Buddha created a
jewelled walk in the air by the side of the Gandamba. When the
Buddha's disciples knew what was in his mind, several of them
offered to perform miracles and so refute the insinuations of the
heretics. Among such disciples were Gharanī, Culla Anātthapindika,
Cīrā, Cunda, Uppalavannā and Moggallāna.

The Buddha refused their offers and related
the Kanhausabha and Nandivisāla Jātakas. Then, standing on the
jewelled walk, he proceeded to perform the Yamaka-pātihāriya (Twin
Miracle), so called because it consisted in the appearance of
phenomena of opposite character in pairs - e.g., producing flames
from the upper part of the body and a stream of water from the
lower, and then alternatively. Flames of fire and streams of water
also proceeded alternatively from the right side of his body and
from the left. DA.l.57; DhA.iii.214f. explains how this was done.
From every pore of his body rays of six colours darted forth,
upwards to the realm of Brahmā and downwards to the edge of the
Cakkavāla. The Miracle lasted for a long while, and as the Buddha
walked up and down the jewelled terrace he preached to the multitude
from time to time. It is said that he performed miracles and
preached sermons during sixteen days, according to the various
dispositions of those present in the assembly. At the conclusion of
the Miracle, the Buddha, following the example of his predecessors,
made his way, in three strides, to Tāvatimsa, there to preach the
Abhidhamma Pitaka to his mother, now born as a devaputta.

The Twin Miracle is described at DA.i.57, and
in very great detail at DhA.iii.204; see also J.iv.263ff. The DhA.
version appears to be entirely different from the Jātaka version;
the latter is very brief and lacks many details, especially
regarding Pindola's miracle and the preaching of the Abhidhamma in
Tāvatimsa. The account given in Dvy. (143-66) is again different;
the Miracle was evidently repeatedly performed by the Buddha (see,
e.g., Candanamālā), and it is often referred to - e.g., J.i.77, 88,
193; Ps.i.125; SNA.i.36; AA.i.71; MA.ii.962; Mil. 349; Vsm.390;
PvA.137; Dāthāvamsa i.50. The miracle was also performed by the
Buddha's relics; see, .e.g., Mhv.xvii.52f.; Sp.i.88, 92.

It is said (Mil.349) that two hundred
millions of beings penetrated to an understanding of the Dhamma at
the conclusion of the Miracle.